‘Our relationship is great’: Key Tottenham player on Pochettino

Eric Dier insists that his relationship with Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is as strong as ever despite recent revelations in a new book about the Argentine’s time in North London.

In Guillem Balague’s Brave New World: Inside Pochettino’s Spurs, the former Southampton boss stated his belief that interest from Manchester United in the last year had ‘destabilised’ the midfielder.

However, Dier has moved to set the record straight and insists that although the two occasionally have differences in opinion, they have always remained on good terms.

“The book has come out now, so it [the speculation] has resurfaced, but for a long time my relationship with the manager has been great. It’s always been very good,” the 23-year-old told The Times.

“Obviously, you can’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but if anything our relationship is stronger for what we went through together.”

Dier has been an ever-present for the Lilywhites’ so far this term, playing in every match across three competitions as his side have made made a positive start to the new campaign.

Whilst they sit eight points adrift of runaway leaders Manchester City in the Premier League table, they have already secured qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League with two games still to play.

That is despite being drawn in a group that includes reigning champions Real Madrid and German giants Borussia Dortmund.

Tottenham overcame Los Blancos 3-1 at Wembley last week and followed that up with a hard-fought victory over struggling Crystal Palace in the league.

They face a trip to fierce rivals Arsenal after the international break, before another difficult away game in Dortmund the following Tuesday.