The Daily Mail journalist Josh Hughes has said that Eric Dier is the player who is most likely to leave Tottenham during the January transfer window.
It is now clear that Dier has no future at Spurs under Ange Postecoglou, the Australian choosing to play Emerson Royal at centre-back ahead of the 29-year-old even when both of his senior centre-backs, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, were unavailable.
It remains to be seen whether the England international calls time on his Tottenham career in January or whether he sees out his contract and leaves as a free agent next summer.
A few days ago, talkSPORT reported that the centre-back is giving serious consideration to the prospect of returning to Sporting Lisbon, the club he left to come to Spurs nine and a half years ago.
The publication did not mention whether Dier wants to make the switch to Lisbon in January or next summer but it pointed out that the Spurs star would be free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from next month.
Hughes believes that there is a decent chance that the central defender will exit the North London club next month.
During a live stream on Chris Cowlin’s YouTube channel, the journalist said: “I saw another comment there saying I think Dier will go. Yeah, I think if there is one that is most likely only because I think if there’s a chance to cash in rather than lose him on a free we will do so.”
The question is whether Dier really wants to waste another six months of what should theoretically be his peak years as a footballer, warming the bench at Spurs. If a decent opportunity opens up in January, I suspect the 29-year-old will be tempted to take it.