Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier discusses growing up in Portugal and thriving under Antonio Conte

“One of my fondest moments was when I was very little and it was my first session I think,” Dier says. “I was terrified, with all these other kids, and I didn’t speak Portuguese at the time. I was crying but my mum just threw me over the fence and said, ‘Get on with it’ – and thank God she did.”

Tottenham Hotspur are at home to Sporting Lisbon tonight (Wednesday) in group D of the Champions League, which means another reunion for Dier with the club that took him into their academy when he was eight, became his home when he was 13, and handed him his professional debut five years later.

Dier and his family relocated to Portugal in 2001, and while he moved to Spurs in 2014 after a brief stint on loan at Everton, his sense of belonging is such that he still makes frequent trips to Portugal on holiday, speaks fluent Portuguese and considers Lisbon his spiritual home. Last summer, Dier went back to Sporting, spoke to the club’s academy players and caught up with some of his most influential coaches.

“My time there changed me massively and those things stay with me now,” Dier says. “Portugal made me who I am today. I don’t remember my childhood much because I was too young but it was the country and the people that shaped me.

“I owe everything to Sporting and to my schools there and the people I met there, the country itself.

“I’m completely different from other people. It’s a strange situation because I’m English, everyone knows I’m English, but obviously having grown up in Portugal I have many traits of someone from there – I speak the language, my taste in food, the way I look, the way I like to live, the things I enjoy doing – my lifestyle over there shaped all of that.”

Dier is now trying to help children have the same access to football as he did but the cost of living crisis in this country means that local clubs are struggling, with more than two thirds of community sports groups expecting children to drop activities over the next six months, even when they are provided for free. “Football was extremely important to me as a kid for the same reason it’s important to these boys and girls,” says Dier, who works with the charity Sported and was visiting Rap-Aid Youth FC in Tottenham.

“I got to know people from different backgrounds and different countries, I learnt languages, I travelled to places I would never have travelled to. I learnt to respect people, to control my emotions better, to understand competitiveness – there are so many aspects of life that I learnt through sport. The impact that this crisis will have on these kids and their families, and their access to these clubs, is very concerning.”

Dier is one of Tottenham’s longest-serving players, one of the few – along with Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and Ben Davies – to see the start of the Mauricio Pochettino era and survive the more chaotic periods under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and now Antonio Conte. If the 28-year-old extends his contract, which expires in 2024, he could end his career at Spurs, although Dier thinks he will play abroad again before he retires.

“Who knows where football will take me in two or three years?” Dier says. “I’m still young, I’ve got a lot of time left. I’m looking after myself.

“I think I will play abroad again at some point in the future, but there’s no rush on that. I would really enjoy experiencing a different type of football again. I think it will happen at some point and I look forward to experiencing football in a different culture because I loved it as a kid.”

Dier has thrived since Conte’s arrival last year. He has started every one of Tottenham’s games this season, and his form has earned him a recall to the England squad before next month’s World Cup in Qatar.

Conte’s contract runs out next summer and there is still uncertainty hanging over the Italian’s future. After Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat at home by Newcastle United on Sunday, the Spurs head coach said that the club needed two or three more transfer windows to be able to compete in the Premier League and Champions League but it remains to be seen if the 53-year-old is prepared to stay in north London for that long.

Asked about Conte signing a new deal, Dier said: “Those decisions are above my pay grade but, yeah, I want to continue to work with him, 100 per cent. It’s between him and the club. I respect both sides of that but obviously I’d love to continue to work with him.”

What has Conte improved most in his game? “I think he’s had a huge impact on me in every way,” Dier said. “Technically, physically and mentally he’s had a huge impact on me. Not just the manager but the coaching staff as well.

“We can see that through the whole team. I’m just really enjoying playing under him and learning under him. I’m learning something new every day. He pushes us.

“He’s shown a lot of belief in me since he arrived and I’m trying to repay him with good performances.”

– The Times

Originally published as Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier discusses growing up in Portugal and thriving under Antonio Conte