Eric Dier

Marco Silva, his manager at Sporting Lisbon

I had Eric very young at Sporting but, at the beginning of that preseason, I realised that I was in the presence of a young man who was going to play at the very highest level. He had great physical quality and technical and tactical ability for his age and with a great sense of professionalism. He had an excellent relationship with all his colleagues and staff.

I only had one problem and that was not being able to keep him at the club any longer because he had a huge ambition to come back to the UK and play in the Premier League and the club had to sell him. Tottenham bought him after one month. In recent years, everything that we have noticed has been proven. With hard work and quality, he has achieved.