Sam Allardyce has said Eric Dier’s performance for England against Spain proved he is on the same level as Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets.
Dier played brilliantly as England recorded a famous 3-2 win over Spain in the UEFA Nations League on Monday night.
Tottenham trio Harry Kane, Harry Winks and Kieran Trippier also played a part. Kane provided two assists, while Winks drew plenty of plaudits.
But Dier was arguably the most impressive Spurs player on the night, setting the tone with a crunching early tackle on Sergio Ramos.
And Allardyce, who managed England for just one game in 2016, thinks Dier is as good as Busquets, who struggled to keep the Three Lions’ attack quiet on the night.
“Busquets was out of sorts last night, and the praise for him has to be stopped because he’s no better or worse than Eric Dier for me,” Allardyce told talkSPORT (via HITC). “Busquets breaks play up and passes it, he’s very intelligent.
“He’s not much more than that but gets a huge amount of praise for it – Dier does the same, but gets a lot of criticism for it. We laud Busquets as a genius, but when it’s are own, we criticise him. Dier was far better than Busquets last night.”
Busquets was excellent when Barcelona beat Tottenham in the Champions League earlier this month, and comparing Dier with one of the best central midfielders of the last ten years is a bizarre thing to do on Allardyce’s part.
But Dier was arguably more impressive than his Spanish counterpart on Monday night, and for that he deserves credit.
