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English defender set to part ways with Bayern Munich at the end of the season
Bayern Munich brought Eric Dier as an emergency defensive signing in the winter transfer window of last season. The former Tottenham defender was let go by the English club for an initial loan deal with an option to extend. After making the required number of appearances to trigger the option, Eric Dier’s contract with Bayern was extended until June 2025.
The former English international spent nine and a half years at the North London club before joining Bayern Munich. He barely got any chance to play for Tottenham in the first half of the 2023/24 season but that wasn’t the case for him in Munich. The central defender enjoyed a lot of minutes under Thomas Tuchel, even playing in the big UCL matchups against Arsenal and Real Madrid. The 30-year-old, to the surprise of many people, gave consistently solid performances in the Bavarian colours and quickly became Tuchel’s trusted starting defender.
This season, however, the defender has fallen down the ranks and is the third-choice CB for Die Roten. New head coach Vincent Kompany prefers the fast, mobile, and aggressive duo of Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae to be the best fit for his style of football.
According to BILD (via @iMiaSanMia), it is very likely that the 30-year-old will leave Bayern when his contract expires next summer. The reason for this is his reduced role at the club and Kompany’s system doesn’t have a place for a defender of his profile.
After joining the club in January, Eric Dier played 19 games for Bayern last season, including 16 games where he completed 90 minutes on the pitch. However, he has featured in five games this campaign, starting just one game. He came off the pitch due to a hamstring issue in Bayern’s latest DFB Pokal game against FSV Mainz. This is his first injury at FC Bayern, as the defender’s availability was always appreciated considering the numerous injury woes that have plagued Bayern’s backline for a long time.
While the season is long and circumstances might call Dier back to regular action, it is still a reasonable decision from the club to not extend his contract and let go of him in the summer. The 30-year-old defender is not particularly known for his athleticism or his ball-playing abilities, both of which happen to be the key attributes needed by the defenders in Kompany’s expansive brand of football. It remains to see if the Englishman decides to move to another club or hangs up his boots at the end of the season.
