Roma manager Jose Mourinho is looking forward to reuniting with Tottenham defender Eric Dier in the Italian capital after previously admitting he was “wrong” about the player.
Jose Mourinho wants to reunite with Tottenham defender Eric Dier in Rome.
The Italian team’s difficult start to the season continued on Thursday evening with a heavy 4-1 defeat against newly promoted Genoa.
Only two other teams in Italy’s top flight – Sassuolo and Empoli – have conceded more goals in the opening six rounds than Mourinho’s team (11).
The Giallorossi lost defender Roger Ibanez to Saudi side Al-Ahli, while central defender Chris Smalling is also injured.
Ivory Coast international Evan Ndicka has endured a difficult start in the Italian capital since arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer.
Smalling has suffered tendon problems this season and at the age of 34, Mourinho is said to be concerned about the lack of depth he possesses in the position.
Dier, who impressed under the Portuguese manager at Spurs, is yet to feature this season and is an option for the January transfer window.
A report from Calciomercato takes a closer look at how Mourinho is keen to sign the England international, who has amassed more than 350 first-team appearances for Spurs but does not appear to be part of Ange Postecoglou’s plans in north London.
Yet the pair shared a somewhat complicated history, with Mourinho’s final months at Spurs seeing the pair make contradictory public comments to each other, although the manager seemed happy that Dier felt confident enough to defend himself publicly.
In early 2021, when Mourinho was still in charge of Spurs, he claimed that some of his players were particularly affected by confidence issues – naming Dier as one of them: “Players have moments.
They may be very good, they may have strong personalities, they may be experienced, they may make mistakes, but in the end, they are men.
Dier played for Spurs in pre-season but is yet to make a competitive appearance under Postecoglou.
“And they feel these little moments of self-confidence, of crisis, more than anyone.
I have to admit that our team has made some small but significant mistakes recently, which are being punished by our results.
And Eric was there, he was one of them. You feel it. And I think the confidence is going down a little bit.
Dier quickly hit back, telling the Guardian: “As far as my confidence goes, I don’t feel like I’ve been down all season.
I’ve gone through periods of low confidence in the past, so I know what it feels like and I haven’t felt that this season.
The most important thing is reality, and people’s perception can sometimes be different from reality.
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And in response to these comments, Mourinho said he admires players who do not suffer from crises of confidence, thus retracting his initial assessment.
“I prefer that, I prefer to be wrong,” the Spurs boss admitted in response. . “I prefer it to have nothing to do with low self-confidence.
I prefer players with a big personality, like the one who has missed two penalties in a row but still has the confidence to take the penalty. And on the third penalty, he recovers the ball to try again.
“That’s why I’m very happy that it’s not a mental situation, nor a psychological situation. I’m really happy about it.
