Summary Crystal Palace are looking at signing a centre-back from a top Premier League club. The player could become one of their highest earners; he currently earns £85k-per-week at his club. He represents a downgrade on Marc Guehi for several reasons.
Crystal Palace are in the market for a defensive player before the transfer market closes for business on September 1st.
What's the latest Crystal Palace transfer news?
According to 90min, Palace are one of several ‘admirers’ of Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier.
Monaco, Celtic, and a number of Bundesliga sides are also keen on acquiring his services.
Dier’s nine-year stint in North London could be drawing to a close as this outlet revealed that he is not in the ‘immediate plans’ of new head coach Ange Postecoglou.
The 29-year-old was left out of the club’s matchday squad for their Premier League opening day draw against Brentford, with the manager stating that it was not due to injury:
“He’s working hard in training and available for selection”, said Postecoglu. “ My decisions then are what I think will give us the best chance of success for any given game and then we reassess the week after.”
Dier has also reportedly been omitted from the manager’s new-look leadership group and with just one year left on his current deal, the chance of an exit is looking increasingly likely with Selhurst Park touted as a destination.
Is Eric Dier better than Marc Guehi?
The Englishman has been at Spurs since 2014 and as his career has progressed he has transitioned from a defensive midfielder into a centre-back.
Over the last three years, Dier has been exclusively deployed as a centre-half but his awareness, intelligence, and decision-making have often been questionable.
As a central defender, these traits boil down to a player's solidity and ball-playing competence, but Dier is lacking in both departments. Over the past 365 days compared to his positional peers in Europe’s top five leagues, the 49-cap international ranks in the lowest 41% for progressive passes and progressive carries per 90. Then defensively, he resides in the bottom 31% for tackles and interceptions.
The second statistic is a particularly chastening indictment of Dier’s level as under Antonio Conte, the club played an extremely, defensive, disciplined and rigid style, so there would be an expectation that players would score impressively for those types of metrics. However, Dier has failed to deliver, and it raises questions if he would be suitable for a team such as Palace.
The £85k-per-week mishap has been branded as “terrible” by commentator Jim Beglin and someone “nowhere near the required level” to bring success by journalist Ryan Taylor.
From an Eagles perspective, for that wage and his quality, he is unlikely to be considered a better option than either Marc Guehi or Joachim Andersen. Last term, this pair started 37 and 32 Premier League games respectively, and Palace’s sturdy mid-table status is built upon these pillars of reliability.
In the club’s opening day 1-0 victory over newly-promoted Sheffield United, both players were in imperious form. Andersen registered six clearances, three tackles, ten accurate long balls, and won ten duels, as per Sofascore. Guehi followed a similar pattern, recording 89% pass accuracy, two clearances, two blocks, two interceptions, and winning 100% of his ground duels.
The signing of Dier would only make sense if one of these titan’s left or if the former Sporting CP man was intended to be a backup. However, it is unlikely that Dier is willing to migrate between substitute benches, so Palace can surely find a more exciting alternative to create more meaningful competition.