Everton have become renowned for their transfer blunders over the last six years since Farhad Moshiri has taken over the club. However, he wasn’t the first to make mistakes when it comes to letting players walk out of Finch Farm to become superstars elsewhere.
Wayne Rooney is one of the most notable players that got away from Everton in recent history, and his career at Manchester United completely justified his move as a player of his calibre was always going to be hard to tie down for the Toffees.
Though, there is another player who went on to be a success at a ‘big six’ club since leaving Merseyside, and is often a forgotten gem of the past.
Eric Dier, who now plays an important role in the defensive line for Tottenham Hotspur, had an 18-month loan spell with Everton U18s back in 2011 and was handed back to Sporting Lisbon after 18 months to be sold onto Spurs for just £4m two years later in 2014.
Since that moment, he is now worth a whopping 395% more at £19.8m according to Transfermarkt.
A decade after leaving Merseyside, the Spurs centre-back has enjoyed his football at the highest level playing for the England national team as part of the midfield who got to the first international semi-final since 1990 back in 2018, and has since moved into a centre-back role at his current club, Tottenham, where has seen a return of consistent form under Antonio Conte this season.
When you compare the 28-year-old who was hailed “confident” by Gary Neville and “top-class” by coach Harry Brooks, to current Everton central defender Mason Holgate it’s clear Everton have missed out on a gem in Dier.
According to Soccerment, the Spurs defender is more successful in aerial duels (58%), passes (85%), tackles (65%) and dribbles (72%) compared to the Toffees centre-back Holgate, and with that being said, he would clearly be more effective in the Everton backline this season.
Dier has talked of his struggles at Everton during his short time in Liverpool, telling The Players Tribune in 2017: “At 16, there was a period when I went on loan to Everton, and that was extremely tough for me.
“I moved on my own from Lisbon to Liverpool, and for the first six months I didn’t know what I was doing there — I felt completely lost.”
It was clearly the wrong timing for the Spurs star who returned to Lisbon for another two years before committing his future with a five year deal in the Premier League at Tottenham, and the rest is history.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it’s interesting to consider the impact Dier could have had at Everton, and if their circumstances over the last few years would be different with a player of his calibre in the team.
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