Eric Dier to captain England in friendly vs. Germany

The six Tottenham Hotspur players who were originally called up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for this week’s international friendlies have dwindled to just three— Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, and Danny Rose. But of the remaining England Hotspurs, it’s Dier who has perhaps been rewarded with the biggest prize. Southgate announced today that Dier will captain the Three Lions when they face Germany at Wembley Stadium later today.

Southgate has been using a captain-by-trial process to decide who he will choose to be permanent captain ahead of the 2018 World Cup, something that has yet to be decided since Wayne Rooney retired from international football. Gary Cahill, Joe Hart, Jordan Henderson, and Harry Kane have all served as captain since Rooney hung up his boots.

In a press conference on Thursday, Southgate said that Dier has the qualities that he’s looking for in a captain.

"[Dier’s] approach to everything is very professional. He hardly ever misses a game and plays in an unselfish manner.

"I think he can be even more of a leader than he currently is and I am hoping giving him this reward and responsibility will also bring even more out of him as well."

Now, I’m not going to say that we knew this was going to happen, but if you’ve been reading this blog the past couple of years, the idea of Dier as a potential future Tottenham captain has been bandied about for a while. He does seem to have the leadership qualities that one desires in a captain, and a book by Sam Walker — reportedly read by Southgate — even suggests that Dier would be an excellent choice to lead England.

It seems as though there are more obvious candidates — Cahill and Kane spring immediately to mind — but this is certainly an interesting choice, and not at all a bad one. I can see Dier embracing the role, and would consider him a dark horse candidate to lock down the armband on a permanent basis, even if that means that he gets his country’s captaincy before his club’s.