Tottenham star Eric Dier insists players have no say with their huge wages but calls for more to step up as role models

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If Tottenham's England players are superstitious about their 'Wembley curse', they will be glad that England have a different dressing room from their club side.

Eric Dier, who uses the West dressing-room with Spurs, will get changed in England's East dressing-room against Slovakia on Monday.

He's won only once in seven games at Wembley as a Spurs player but has four wins and a draw with England. However he has no misgivings about returning to a ground where Tottenham have lost to Chelsea and been held by Burnley this season.

Eric Dier has spoken out about footballer's wages and the supposed Wembley curse

He says: 'There's no curse. It's grass and four lines. People want to jump on the Wembley thing with Spurs but if you look at last season in the Champions League, we weren't in a good period as a team, full stop. I thought we played extremely well against Chelsea though we were beaten. Against Burnley, we didn't kill the game off so we drew.'

'I'm looking forward to playing there again. It's one of the most historic stadiums in world football and I'm lucky to get the chance to play there every other week,' he adds with an optimism Gareth Southgate hopes will be shared by Harry Kane and Dele Alli going into a game against Slovakia that carries real importance.

The two countries are first and second in Group F with England two points ahead. Victory would put Southgate's men within touching distance of the finals in Russia, defeat would leave them fearing a runners-up spot and a play-off to qualify.

Dier was suspended for Friday's win in Malta but should return against Slovakia for his 20th cap. That makes him fairly experienced in a squad where only three players have more than 50 caps: Joe Hart, Gary Cahill and Jermain Defoe.

'Slovakia will be a different game to Malta, he says. 'I've played against them a couple of times including Euro 2016 (0-0) and they are a very good side, well organised. Most international teams have one or two very good players and Slovakia more than that so it will be very tough.

Dier is set to return to Wembley, the stadium where he has struggled with Tottenham

'Wayne [Rooney] will be really missed. He broke so many records but what people didn't see was the kind of things he would do with myself, Dele and other young players, the way he looked after us was fantastic.'

Image-wise, footballers have had a rough summer with rampant transfer and wage inflation. £1.4billion was spent by Premier League clubs and there have been stand-offs as players tried to force moves. Some who have made international appearances haven't yet played for their clubs this season. 

Dier, however, took a mature view when a mooted transfer to Manchester United failed to materialise. 'It's extremely important footballers try to carry ourselves in the right way because millions of kids are looking up to us in a sense. I think every footballer takes that very seriously and rightly so,' he says.

'If you were to follow any 21-year-old or 22-year-old around for six months I'm sure you'd see a lot of bad stuff. Everyone has to realise that at the end of the day we are just young boys. In football you are seen as being in the middle of your career at 25 but from a life point of view you are still young and are going to make mistakes.

'I think footballers in general as role models are really fantastic and I will say that for all the boys here, everyone carries themselves really well.

'I agree with something Jamie Carragher wrote last year along the lines that we are extremely gifted footballers, not gifted human beings.'

Dier believes footballers only compare themselves to their peers when it comes to earnings

Most England players are paid in a week what it took their parents years to earn. It's hard for supporters to comprehend situations like the one at Tottenham where players on £100,000-a-week or more reportedly feel undervalued.

'For someone in the football world, they are comparing themselves with people in the industry and judging [wages] from within the industry, as you would all probably judge yourselves. A tennis player would judge himself within his industry; a writer, a photographer, the same,' explains Dier.

'It's not [Ousmane] Dembele's fault he is good at football and Barcelona are willing to pay £100million for him. I'm not saying I agree with it, I am just saying that's where the industry is at. It's a business really. If another sport was gaining the revenue that football is all over the world, those people would be earning similar amounts of money.

'Footballers have no say in that. It's more to do with people way up the food chain. I don't think people understand [that] dealing with the fame and pressure can be hard to handle.'