06 January 2024 , 00:00
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Ange Postecoglou has brutally admitted Tottenham can afford to lose Eric Dier to Bayern Munich this month, despite a fresh injury blow to defender Ben Davies.
Dier, who has less than six months left on his contract, is set to join former Spurs team-mate Harry Kane at Bayern Munich in a surprise January move. Thomas Tuchel is keen to add another centre-back to his squad and the German champions are in talks with Tottenham over a short-term permanent deal, as per The Athletic.
The 29-year-old was left out of the Tottenham squad to face Burnley in the FA Cup, which raised further eyebrows about his future in north London. However, after the game - which Spurs won 1-0 thanks to Pedro Porro's wonderstrike - Postecoglou revealed Dier has picked up an injury.
He said: "He just pulled up sore and didn't train yesterday." Postecoglou was then quizzed about Dier's potential move to Bayern, which got a frisky response. "Separate issue mate but don't question my integrity," Postecoglou continued. "When I say he's injured, he's injured. He didn't train yesterday. I can get Vision [Spurs' training system footage] in for you, you can ask him. It's got nothing to do with anything else."
"When you ask me whether he's injured, he's injured," he added. "I didn't make that up. If he wasn't injured I'd say he wasn't selected. It's easy for me to say. He's injured and in terms of anything else that's happening, not on my radar. Not that I've heard of. If there is something I'm sure I'll hear of it, but fair to say in the last 24 hours we've been focusing on the game and the guys that are available."
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Postecoglou was later asked if Tottenham can afford to lose Dier with Davies potentially out. In typical fashion, the Tottenham boss replied: "Yes."
Eric Dier is set to leave Tottenham to join Bayern Munich (Getty Images)With Cristian Romero out and Micky van de Ven only just returning from a hamstring problem, the last thing Postecoglou needed was an injury to Davies, who has been excellent since moving into central defence in recent weeks. "Yeah, Ben Davies looks like he done his hamstring," Postecoglou said. "So, it looks like he will be out and Gio has a bit of tightness but hoping it is nothing serious."
As for the game itself, Porro's 25-yard thunderbolt separated the two sides as Tottenham booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup. "It looked like that's what it was going to take," Postecoglou said. "We controlled the game enough but we were just a bit wasteful in front of goal. It's a cup competition. The most important thing is you find a way to win and we did that."