Role models? Yes ... but we are also just young boys SAYS ENGLAND MIDFIELD STAR ERIC DIER
MOHAWK READY TO TURN ON THE STYLE FOR SLOVAKIA
ERIC DIER has opened up about the pressures that come with being a role model and the difficulties of dealing with fame and fortune.
The Tottenham and England star knows he is in a privileged position and that he has a job most lads his age – most men of any age – would love.
But, as the 23-year-old explains, there are also drawbacks to a life in the spotlight – with plenty of people waiting for – and willing – players to put a foot wrong.
Dier said: “We could talk about the issue all day, it’s so complex.
“Nowadays, with social media and mobile phones, it’s constant – it’s 24/7, really.
“As footballers, it’s extremely important because everyone knows that we are role models.
“We need to try to carry ourselves in the right way because millions of kids are looking up to you, in a sense.
“Every footballer takes that very seriously and rightly so.
“But if you were to follow any 21 or 22-year-old boy around for six months, you’d see a lot of bad stuff.
“Everyone has to realise that, at the end of the day, we are just young boys.
“In football, at 25, you are seen as being in the middle or your career.
“But, from a life point of view, you are still a young boy – and boys are going to make mistakes.
“People don’t realise how hard it is for us to handle.”
Dier added: “The money is the world we live in, but it’s difficult.
“It’s not Ousmane Dembele’s fault he’s good at football and someone is willing to pay £140million for him.
“For someone in the football world, that’s what people are looking at.” One man who knows all about being in the spotlight is Wayne Rooney.
The Everton star retired from international football ahead of this latest round of internationals.
But he has just found himself right back in the spotlight again after being charged with drink driving, following MAREK HAMSIK will be out to give England a hair-raising experience at Wembley tomorrow night as Slovakia bid to pile the pressure on Gareth Southgate’s side at the top of Group F.
The mohawk-sporting Napoli midfielder is Slovakia’s most eye-catching performer in every sense. And he is the visitors’ biggest threat in a top-of-the-table clash that will go a long way to deciding the qualifying fortunes of both countries.
The 30-year-old, who is closing in on his country’s record goalscoring tally — he has scored 21 times for Slovakia — will win his 99th his arrest by Cheshire Police, just after 2am on Friday in a VW Beetle.
Speaking before that latest incident, Dier said: “I’m not going to disagree with Wayne’s decision not to play any more for England – he knows himself a lot better than I do.
“But it’s really sad for English football, because he has been such a cap tomorrow at Wembley.
James Lawrence, the only Englishman playing in the Slovakian top flight, told Sunday Mirror Sport that Hamsik has assumed legendary status in his home country. And he believes he is definitely the man Southgate’s side need to stop if they are to make sure of fantastic player for England for so many years.
“What people don’t see is the kind of things Wayne would do with myself, Dele Alli and the other young players when they came into the England set-up for the first time.
“He was brilliant in that way – and he’ll be really missed.” their place in Russia next summer.
“Slovakia will relish the opportunity to play at Wembley,” said 25-year-old Lawrence, who was with Arsenal and QPR as a kid.
“Marek Hamsik is their go-to guy.
“He’s their playmaker, he’s their goalscorer, he does everything. He organises the side, he motivates them.
“If you watch him on the pitch during a Slovakia game, he’s the core of the team, he’s the one that keeps them going and shows those flashes of brilliance that inspire everyone else.
“Every kid in the country looks up to him.”