West Bromwich Albion striker Charlie Austin has questioned the decision of England manager Gareth Southgate to invite Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier for this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
The Three Lions are in Group I of the European qualifiers for Qatar 2022, and they face San Marino, Albania and Poland this month.
Southgate’s 26-man squad had some few surprises upon its announcement, with Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold omitted while Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford was also missing despite being the
Premier League’s current fifth top-scorer with 13 goals.
Austin, currently on loan at Queens Park Rangers, believes that someone like Dier only made the squad because he plays for a big side and not based on current form.
“There is favouritism to bigger clubs,” the English striker told talkSPORT.
“Eric Dier has been called up, has he done enough to be called up? Or are you calling him up because he plays for Tottenham?”
Dier has featured in 21 Premier League games for Spurs this term, but has missed the last five league games as head coach Jose Mourinho has chosen to play other centre-backs.
The 27-year-old has not been in fine and impressive form of recent, and he was not able to stop Tottenham from getting dumped out of the Europa League by Dinamo Zagreb.
While Dier is by no means a poor defender, he is not the best out of there and has not proven to be good enough as a centre-half on a consistent basis.
Should he end the campaign on his current form, not many people will be shocked if he fails to make the final cut for England’s European Championships squad.
It will be interesting to see whether Dier will get a chance to impress on international duty, but Southgate is likely to stick with Harry Maguire and John Stones should he opt for a back-two.
In other news, Spurs have reportedly identified Ligue 1 star as replacement for 34-year-old.
