In quite a surprising report, Telegraph is claiming that Manchester United are closer than ever in securing a move for Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive ace Eric Dier. The transfer fee is apparently a whopping £40 million, which is obvious considering how important a player Dier is for his side and comes from a direct rival.
After a largely disappointing season, which saw Manchester United winning only the EFL Cup in the form of silverware, manager Jose Mourinho is expected to go all out next season. And if bringing in Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan didn’t work, the Portugal manager will not stop until he gets his squad right.
Surprisingly, after innumerable experiments, the United squad seems to be finally working now. The team looks more synced and doesn’t solely depend on the towering Zlatan Ibrahimovic to score goals. However, the Manchester outfit has let off players like Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger from the side and the age-old Michael Carrick is also retiring at the end of the season, and reinforcements are definitely needed.
The United central midfield comprises only of Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera as the apt options and Fellaini’s inconsistency hasn’t been very encouraging. Pogba, surrounding whom United are willing to make the team, has been a huge source of criticism this season as Mourinho took way too much time to decide whether to deploy him offensively or defensively.
What United need is someone, who could gel in seamlessly in the defensive midfield and the backline. A requirement that has Eric Dier written over it. The 23-year-old has been one of Spurs’ main players this season playing both in the midfield as well as a centre-half as and when needed.
The injuries to Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld took their turns this season and they both had only one replacement. Dier took the right of Spurs’ three-man defence formation and when Mousa Dembele was absent in the midfield, he played alongside Wanyama.
His main attributes are his disciplined defending and brilliant passing from the deep midfield. He has played 30 times for Spurs so far and is one of the main reasons for their unwavering form in the league. However, getting him from the North-London side will be no easy task for United.
Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, is not the most the most pleasant of negotiators and United have prior experience of it while landing Carrick and Berbatov. However, Tottenham are eyeing a move for Burnley’s Michael Keane and if they manage to land him, there is a slim chance of Dier moving to Old Trafford.
