Eric Dier has undergone groin surgery, will miss Leeds match

Tottenham Hotspur announced this afternoon that Eric Dier has undergone groin surgery this week and will miss the final match of the season this Saturday against Leeds.

But there’s more! Alasdair Gold also just provided some important context that should probably make all of us reconsider what Dier’s been going through. Essentially, it appears as though Dier’s been playing through an injury ever since this winter’s World Cup.

Dier hasn’t seen the pitch since he made a 2 minute cameo at the end of the Crystal Palace match. He was out of the side vs. Aston Villa and was an unused substitute vs. Brentford. Honestly, this makes me rethink a lot of assumptions about his play in the back half of the season. Yes, he’s been bad, but now I feel obligated to consider those awful performances in the context of Dier trying to help the team by playing through a groin injury. I have no idea how much the injury has affected him, but I do know that at the professional athlete level even small niggling injuries can impact your performance, sometimes massively.

At least I hope it does. I like Eric Dier (and Eric Dier likes me), so it’s been a little distressing to see him seemingly fall off a cliff defensively this season. I’d sure like to think that he’s still better than what he showed this season and that with a medical procedure and an offseason in which to heal he can come back stronger next season (assuming he comes back at all).

Anyway, what seems clear at minimum is that Eric Dier was willing to play through some pain and discomfort at the request of his manager(s) to try and achieve the best for Tottenham. That may not change everyone’s opinion of him, but it certainly makes me think a little more about what I’ve seen from him this spring.