As soon as Jose Mourinho was appointed manager of Tottenham, the jokes linking the Portuguese boss to Eric Dier began to flow on social media.
It has been nearly two years since the former Manchester United manager attempted to sign the Tottenham defensive midfielder for the Red Devils after Dier asserted himself as England’s starting enforcer as well as one of Spurs’ top performers shortly after arriving in 2014.
Yet as The Independent revealed this summer, Mourinho was unable to meet Tottenham’s £50m demands for the defensive midfielder in the 2017 transfer window.
But two years after that episode and Dier seemingly out of the first-team fold at Tottenham as stats from Transfermarkt show from this season, the former Sporting Lisbon midfielder was immediately been thrown back into the XI with the arrival of Mourinho, with the 25-year-old midfielder making only his fourth start of the campaign in all competitions.
And Dier himself seemed excited to be back on the pitch with Tottenham and playing under Mourinho, with the midfielder saying to ESPN: “I’m very happy that it’s him (Mourinho). Obviously with my connection to Portugal when I was younger, I grew up watching him coach great teams and winning the biggest titles in football. For me, it’s very special to be able to play for him.”
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Yet as stats from WhoScored show, the midfielder was hardly exceptional against the Hammers on Saturday, with Dier only managing one tackle throughout the entire game, with Heung-min Son managing more than the English international.
Indeed, it is clear to see that Mourinho is a fan of Dier after handing the Spurs midfielder a lifeline to recapture the form that made the 25-year-old a £50m player, and the former Sporting enforcer needs to begin repaying the favour to the Portuguese manager in the upcoming fixtures to prove to him and the supporters that he is far from finished at the club.