Eric Dier had admitted that his last six months at Tottenham Hotspur were not easy, but revealed that he continued working as hard as he could during the first half of the season, which has helped him hit the ground running at Bayern Munich.
Dier was a fantastic servant for Tottenham, spending nearly a decade at the club since his move from Sporting Lisbon back in 2014 before parting ways in January.
The centre-back might have perhaps hoped for a better end to his Tottenham career than what transpired, having hardly had any game time at all during the first half of the season.
Ange Postecoglou was hesitant to hand opportunities to the 30-year-old even when Crisitan Romero and Micky van de Ven were out injured, preferring to play two full-backs, Emerson Royal and Ben Davies, in central defence instead.
Eric Dier’s last six months at Spurs were difficult
However, Dier revealed that he never let his head drop or standards slip in training during his final six months at Spurs, explaining that it has helped him showcase his best following his move to Bavaria.
The former Tottenham man told The Athletic: “Being here now, the thing I’m most proud of about myself is that I just persevered. I trained hard every day. Tried to stay as fit as possible. And it’s pure blind faith.
“Because you don’t know if you’re going to go anywhere in January, where you’re going to go, or what’s going to happen. You don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Suddenly, I was here. It was a great feeling when I arrived, that for six months I behaved in the way I did. It made me very proud that I behaved in that way. It’s what opened the door to coming here. And it’s also why, when I came, I was ready to play.”
The England international confessed that it was not easy to be completely overlooked by Postecoglou but he insisted that he did not take the Australian’s decision personally.
He added: “It was the most challenging six months of my career. It’s really not a nice position to be in. I tried to stay calm and analyse it in a practical way. I understood it was very clear there was a new manager and he wanted to start something new.
“I understood what my contractual situation was, that I only had a year left. The club wanted to start something fresh. I understood that. So I didn’t take it in a very personal way.”
When experienced stars are frozen out, it can negatively affect the dressing room atmosphere at clubs. However, both Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier are model professionals and certainly not the kind to create any problems.
