Tottenham Hotspur star Eric Dier says his relationship with Mauricio Pochettino is stronger than ever after interest from Manchester United.
Pochettino was furious with Dier for embracing Jose Mourinho after 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford in December 2016.
Dier was hauled into Pochettino’s office the following day and the pair spoke for ‘hours’ about the incident.
The Argentine boss speaks at length about the incident in his upcoming book but Dier says interest from United did not disrupt his form.
‘What needs to be clarified is that this is something that happened last Christmas,’ Dier told The Times.
‘The book is a very honest account, and it’s nice for fans to have that insight about what goes on, that it’s not all lovey-dovey, but context is important. This was last Christmas. The book has come out now, so it has resurfaced, but for a long time my relationship with the manager has been great. It’s always been very good. Obviously, you can’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but if anything our relationship is stronger for what we went through together.
‘The manager’s point of view was [the friendliness with Mourinho] was disrespectful to him. [The dialogue] was more him getting that message across than me getting my message across.” But at Old Trafford he had been in an awkward situation.
‘I grew up in Portugal. Portuguese people are very proud and it’s a small country. It doesn’t have the economic power of a country such as England, so people like Mourinho, Ronaldo, they’re extremely proud of it. Growing up there I was within all that, you know? I didn’t want to be disrespectful to anyone. I completely understand where the manager was coming from but I believe I was stuck in the middle of something I couldn’t really affect.’
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