Eric Dier almost became one of the long list of Tottenham players to have joined Manchester United in the Premier League era. While we all remember Dimitar Berbatov scoring goals for fun at United, Dier could have become the next Michael Carrick.
Dier has become one of the best in the club and is now even a regular for the national side and the Metro claims that Jose Mourinho wanted to take the 23-year-old to Old Trafford but had to be content with the signing of Nemanja Matic from his old club Chelsea.
The report further claims that United had actually bid around £50million for the former Sporting Lisbon man and that they had their sights on the English midfielder since January.
When speaking about the speculation and the constant links with Manchester United, Dier was quoted as saying:
“I think it’s best if footballers worry about playing football.
“I take the philosophy that if I worry about the football everything else will take care of itself.”
While that didn’t seem like the most positive answer for us, we can take a bit of solace from the fact that Daniel Levy had rejected a bid for the 23-year-old and possibly could do so in the upcoming transfer windows as well.
Mourinho In Awe Of Our Player Handling
Mourinho however, had another take on our transfer prevails and seems to be in awe of our ability to keep the best players while not spending a crazy amount of money. Back in July, he said (as quoted by Metro):
“Everybody speaks about the dimension of the investment at Manchester City but there is another team that I feel the dimension of their investment is also phenomenal – Tottenham.
“Until now they spent zero pounds, right? They keep everybody they want to keep.
“They keep Dele Alli, [Harry] Kane and [Toby] Alderweireld, they keep Eric Dier, they keep everyone they want to keep.”
He did add about us selling Kyle Walker but was quick to suggest that Kieran Trippier was one reason why we let go of the now Manchester City man.
“They sold Kyle Walker I think because they wanted to sell. And probably because they think Trippier is as good as Walker. And he’s younger than Walker.”
Whatever be Mourinho’s point, we have to ensure our top players stay at the club. There have been rumblings about Manchester United trying to double Dier’s £70,000 a week wage and that is something we cannot afford to match.
What we can do is keep playing great football and maybe take Dier’s salary to our wage ceiling of £100,000 a week. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep the 23-year-old for a few more years and maybe we can pick up a cup or two along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h9Y04CrdmI
Sheringham, Carrick, Berbatov…? Have I missed anyone out? Over a 25 year period? Not that a list, really.
Over approximately a fifteen year period, United have sold Beckham, van Nistleroy and Ronaldo to Real Madrid. No-one talks about long lists of players leaving United for RM. No-one constantly and consistently refers to United as a selling club. What about Liverpool? How many players have they sold to Barcelona, City and Chelsea in the last ten year? What about Arsenal? How many have they sold to Barcelona, City and now Liverpool? Hell, even Chelsea have sold two players to United in the last few years (Mata and Matic).
Interesting point SP – and now even Barca aren’t immune!
Don’t forget Real pimped Vigo off them.