Tottenham Hotspur plan to “shut up” their critics after becoming the first Premier League club not to sign a player during a summer window, Eric Dier has said.
Speaking after Spurs began the season with a 2-1 win at Newcastle on Saturday, Dier argued that few rivals had succeeded in strengthening their teams.
“To strengthen it is not easy as well. You can look at all the other teams around us — they might have signed players, but not many of those players that they’ve signed are better than the players they’ve already got.
“Obviously there are signings that have been made which are players of high quality, but in many cases I don’t believe that they’ve signed players that are better than they already have.”
England international Dier stressed that Spurs had “a fantastic group” that had been challenging for honours in the past three seasons.
“We all really enjoy training together, playing together, being with each other,” he added. “The manager said it before — we’re in a fight but we’re having to use different tools.
“We’ve known that for the last three years and we have to try and compensate for what other clubs can do in different ways, with our attitude, our work ethic, our desire.”
Dier was part of the England squad that reached the World Cup semifinals, but said he would only pat himself on the back when he had a winner’s medal.
“Hugo [Lloris] can be a changed man because Hugo won it,” he said. “Everyone else, we’re in the same boat. If you don’t win it you could get knocked out in the first round or lose in the final, it doesn’t matter.
“Everyone else, back here at Tottenham we got to the [FA Cup] semifinal last year but we need to go that one step further and win.”
Dier praised Spurs captain Lloris as “one of the best goalkeepers in the world, first and foremost.”
“He’s someone that everyone in the squad looks up to — even more now,” he said. “We look up to the quality he brings, the work ethic he brings, the attitude he brings. His style is a quiet style, but silence is sometimes deadly.”
Dier had been approached by the Portuguese Football Federation to play for Portugal in the future, but could only do so once he turned 18.He had been involved in a high-profile England national team kit promotion for sportswear manufacturers Umbro, and his appearance in the campaign prompted British newspaper Daily Mail to question why The Football Association had not contacted him with a view for playing in their youth national teams. Upon his signing for Everton, an FA spokesman said, “Our intention will be to select him for the youth squad in the coming weeks,” referring to the 2011 edition of the under-17 international Algarve Tournament.
Dier earned his first England call-up in November 2011 when under-18 head coach Noel Blake picked him for a match against Slovakia.
He played the full 90 minutes in the 1–1 draw on 16 November 2011.
On 28 May 2013, he was named in manager Peter Taylor’s 21-man squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
He made his debut on 16 June in a 3–0 win in a warm-up match against Uruguay.
Dier made his debut for the England under-21s on 13 August 2013 in a 6–0 win against Scotland.
In 2014, he pulled out of the squad, informing manager Gareth Southgate that he did not want to be deployed as a right back anymore and would rather work on the centre-back position at his club, Tottenham.