What is it like to be Eric Dier, one wonders? First he gets frozen out of his long time club Tottenham Hotspur, sold on for a pittance to Bayern Munich of all clubs, planned to be a backup only to become the club’s defensive lynchpin and lead the Bavarians into a Champions League semifinal by beating hated London rivals Arsenal FC. And now he is back on the bench. Throughout the first four matches of the season in the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal at the time of writing, the experienced Englishman has just 9 minutes of football. But the season is still so very young and the need for him is still there.
Bayern’s sporting director Christoph Freund certainly seems to think the above, as he answers Bild reporter Michel Schröer’s query on Dier’s lack of game time, as captured by @iMiaSanMia: “He’s training really well and is a real professional. We’re very happy to have him. We will still need him.”
It is pertinent to remember that Dier also started his career at Bayern glued to the bench, only to grow in importance as the season progressed. There is little to suggest the same could not happen again.
