Ange Postecoglou makes Eric Dier Tottenham squad claim and discusses transfer need

Ange Postecoglou has admitted that Eric Dier was never out of his thinking when it came to finalising Tottenham's 25-man squad for the 2023/24 Premier League season. Previously looking to be in a position where he would need to cut a couple from his final squad due to the amount of non-homegrown players on the books, a late flurry of transfer deals ensured Spurs got over the line.

Dier was one of the 17 non-homegrown players selected, with Hugo Lloris also included despite question marks over his place in Postecoglou's plans as he looked to seal a summer transfer elsewhere. Although Dier has yet to appear in the Tottenham matchday 20 this campaign after missing out in all five games, the head coach has made it clear that the England international «was never out of the squad».

«As I said leading into it it was a fairly fluid situation. We weren't really sure what was going to happen with Hugo. Eric was never out of the squad. He was here and I obviously had decisions to make around the 25-man squad,» he said in his pre-match press conference.

«Obviously on the last day we had Reguilon moving to Man Utd then Ndombele and Sanchez out. So that's three foreigners. If one of them had stayed it would have been a different decision, which I had already stated publicly, but once we got to the end of the window we knew the numbers we had.

»Hugo and Eric were still with us so we had room to put them on the list and they're on the list. Nothing's really changed from that perspective. They were training with the first team and they're training with the first team and available now."

Asked about if he has spoken to both Dier and Lloris regarding their roles since the transfer window closed, he added: «Maybe I should have the pecking order