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As part of the unlikely story of a future England star, the young Eric Dier used to have a goal in his garden as he grew up in Portugal’s Algarve.
From an early age he would spend hours practising exactly the kind of free-kick that should have propelled England to victory in their Euro 2016 opener against Russia.
So to those who have followed his career closely, his dead-ball prowess came as less of a surprise than to fans on to whose radar he only arrived after signing for Tottenham in 2014.
For not only has the 22-year-old an unexpected history of taking free-kicks, he has also long since shown a propensity for coming up with eye-catching goals for one who has primarily played a defensive role.
The third of six children, Dier was spotted by Sporting Lisbon’s academy when his family relocated from Sussex to the Iberian peninsula, due to his father’s job as an executive on the tennis side of Dunlop’s sports manufacturing business.
As he progressed through the age groups at the famed breeding ground for outstanding footballers, Dier became known as something of a free-kick specialist.
It is only the presence of Christian Eriksen in the Tottenham team that has kept this skill hidden from view in England. After breaking into Sporting’s B team he scored several spectaculars from dead-ball situations, including in the biggest matches at that level against main rivals Benfica and Porto.
According to those who know him best, there is a particular range in which he specialises, and the goal on Saturday — which came from within the D — is precisely in his favoured strike zone.
Dier’s goal also fits into a pattern of him making some eye-catching interventions at the end of the pitch that is not where he does most of his business.
He made his full debut at 18 as a defender for Sporting against Braga, and after just three minutes laid on a cross from which Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored, turning out to be the only goal of the game.
On his first appearance for Tottenham in August 2014 away to West Ham, he ghosted in from right back to run on to a through-ball, took it round the keeper and slotted it home to get the winner in added time.
That is not to mention the meaty header from Jordan Henderson’s corner that clinched victory against Germany in Berlin in March.
A young Dier meets England icon David Beckham during Euro 2004 in Portugal, where he grew up
Yet while Dier has made some dramatic contributions, the story of his career is more one of a gradual and pragmatic build up, the result of deliberate long-term planning unusual in a player’s development.
The reason for that lies in the background of his father Jeremy as a tennis player, and his subsequent career in the sports business. Dier Snr was familiar with the long-term process needed to create an elite tennis professional.
Therefore when his son began to show real potential he put the emphasis on ensuring that Eric would be excelling only when he was mentally and physically ready for it. The mantra was always: ‘It doesn’t matter what happens now as long as he is good at 21.’
This goes against the sporting parent norm, the natural temptation being to chase recognition as quickly as possible at a young age. So when Eric’s career was flowering at Sporting the choice was made to fish him out of that environment and toughen him up with a season on loan in what were alien surroundings at Everton, the reserves and youth set-up there being a contrasting culture.
He then made the unusual move of pulling out of Gareth Southgate’s Under 21 squad in 2014, because he wanted to develop more in his favoured centre-back role than as a right back. Likewise there was no great angst in the Dier camp when he was overlooked for last summer’s European Under 21 Championship.
He was more than happy to focus on an uninterrupted pre-season with Tottenham in preparation for the campaign just gone. The dividend could be seen in his key role for the team under Mauricio Pochettino, who has morphed him into the screening defensive midfielder now so indispensable to England.
His position requires the virtues of the whole approach taken to the development of Dier as a footballer, and mirror those that mark him out as a player: pragmatic, patient and disciplined — backed up of course by natural strength and ability. And it turns out it is all by design.
As part of the unlikely story of a future England star, the young Eric Dier used to have a goal in his garden as he grew up in Portugal’s Algarve.
From an early age he would spend hours practising exactly the kind of free-kick that should have propelled England to victory in their Euro 2016 opener against Russia.
So to those who have followed his career closely, his dead-ball prowess came as less of a surprise than to fans on to whose radar he only arrived after signing for Tottenham in 2014.
For not only has the 22-year-old an unexpected history of taking free-kicks, he has also long since shown a propensity for coming up with eye-catching goals for one who has primarily played a defensive role.
The third of six children, Dier was spotted by Sporting Lisbon’s academy when his family relocated from Sussex to the Iberian peninsula, due to his father’s job as an executive on the tennis side of Dunlop’s sports manufacturing business.
As he progressed through the age groups at the famed breeding ground for outstanding footballers, Dier became known as something of a free-kick specialist.
It is only the presence of Christian Eriksen in the Tottenham team that has kept this skill hidden from view in England. After breaking into Sporting’s B team he scored several spectaculars from dead-ball situations, including in the biggest matches at that level against main rivals Benfica and Porto.
According to those who know him best, there is a particular range in which he specialises, and the goal on Saturday — which came from within the D — is precisely in his favoured strike zone.
Dier’s goal also fits into a pattern of him making some eye-catching interventions at the end of the pitch that is not where he does most of his business.
He made his full debut at 18 as a defender for Sporting against Braga, and after just three minutes laid on a cross from which Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored, turning out to be the only goal of the game.
On his first appearance for Tottenham in August 2014 away to West Ham, he ghosted in from right back to run on to a through-ball, took it round the keeper and slotted it home to get the winner in added time.
That is not to mention the meaty header from Jordan Henderson’s corner that clinched victory against Germany in Berlin in March.
A young Dier meets England icon David Beckham during Euro 2004 in Portugal, where he grew up
Yet while Dier has made some dramatic contributions, the story of his career is more one of a gradual and pragmatic build up, the result of deliberate long-term planning unusual in a player’s development.
The reason for that lies in the background of his father Jeremy as a tennis player, and his subsequent career in the sports business. Dier Snr was familiar with the long-term process needed to create an elite tennis professional.
Therefore when his son began to show real potential he put the emphasis on ensuring that Eric would be excelling only when he was mentally and physically ready for it. The mantra was always: ‘It doesn’t matter what happens now as long as he is good at 21.’
This goes against the sporting parent norm, the natural temptation being to chase recognition as quickly as possible at a young age. So when Eric’s career was flowering at Sporting the choice was made to fish him out of that environment and toughen him up with a season on loan in what were alien surroundings at Everton, the reserves and youth set-up there being a contrasting culture.
He then made the unusual move of pulling out of Gareth Southgate’s Under 21 squad in 2014, because he wanted to develop more in his favoured centre-back role than as a right back. Likewise there was no great angst in the Dier camp when he was overlooked for last summer’s European Under 21 Championship.
He was more than happy to focus on an uninterrupted pre-season with Tottenham in preparation for the campaign just gone. The dividend could be seen in his key role for the team under Mauricio Pochettino, who has morphed him into the screening defensive midfielder now so indispensable to England.
His position requires the virtues of the whole approach taken to the development of Dier as a footballer, and mirror those that mark him out as a player: pragmatic, patient and disciplined — backed up of course by natural strength and ability. And it turns out it is all by design.
