West Ham United's blockbuster next January transfer could be genius move for ex-Tottenham gem

West Ham haven’t waited long to start rolling the dice this January, but then their position was getting so poor that they didn’t have much of a choice. Two strikers have already arrived, in the hope that they will offer the firepower Nuno Espirito’s Santo will need to dodge the drop. Now it’s the turn of the defence to get a mid-season makeover.

The Hammers have spent heavily in their back line over recent transfer windows, but most of their investments – particularly the most substantial ones such as Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo – have proven to be unsuccessful. No team in the league has conceded more than West Ham’s 43. Either that changes, or they will surely be relegated.

So it is that the rumour mill has started connecting West Ham with bids for centre-halves – and while several names have cropped up, one of the most intriguing to emerge has been that of former Tottenham Hotspur and England man Eric Dier. But does the veteran still have what it takes at Premier League level, and how likely is it that a deal takes place?

Why Eric Dier might be just what West Ham need to swerve relegation this season

The tail end of Dier’s long career with Spurs was sufficiently undistinguished that many Premier League fans ended up with a rather lower opinion of him than he perhaps deserved – and he’s spent the last couple of years making that point on the continent.

You may not have to go far to find a negative review of Dier in London, but you’d spend plenty of time wandering around Munich before you found a Bayern fan with a bad word to say about him, and after leaving the German champions over the summer to sign for AS Monaco, it took him just a few months to earn the captain’s armband.

That makes it surprising that Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg and TalkSport have both claimed that Monaco are not only prepared to let Dier leave this winter, but have even actively offered him to West Ham. Normally, such a move would suggest a player who had been extremely disappointing.

That hasn’t been the case with Dier, but he has been injured rather a lot. After starting six of the club’s first seven league matches and deputising as captain against OGC Nice and Club Brugges in the Champions League, a hamstring injury sidelined him and was swiftly followed by a calf problem. The upshot is that Dier, who turns 32 this Thursday, hasn’t played since early October.

Fitness issues, then, are the most likely reason that Monaco would be prepared to let him go – they may see an opportunity to quickly offload a player whose injuries are worrying them. Given that his contract runs until 2028, that’s a sensible position to take should those concerns be significant enough.

When he has been fit, however, Dier has made good use of his combination of experience, resilience, positional sense and passing quality – he remains a potent force in the air, a reliable defender on the ground, and a player willing to throw himself into blocks and tackles to keep opposing attackers at bay.

And while he may not be one of football’s great natural technicians, Dier remains a better passer than he has been given credit for in his home country, and his long-range distribution in particular is still impressive. Given that Nuno Espirito Santo likes his teams to play quick counter-attacking football, Dier’s ability to launch accurate long balls (something none of his current options at centre-back can really do) could be important.

With the likes of Kilman and Todibo struggling for form, Dier could provide an edge. Certainly, while his run at Spurs ended poorly, he has looked like a defender who can keep up at the elite level in Germany and France. But can West Ham get a deal over the line this transfer window?

Are West Ham about to sign Eric Dier this January?

The stories concerning Dier’s future and the allegation that Monaco had offered him to West Ham started up on Monday evening, and while corroborated in a few places there is at least one source contradicting the claim completely.

L’Equipe journalist Flavien Trésarrieu states that Monaco intend to keep Dier, which wouldn’t necessarily be surprising given the first impression that he seems to have made at the club. If those injuries aren’t such a serious concern, then it would be very odd for Monaco to be so keen to get rid of a player who played well before he got stuck on the sidelines.

While there’s doubt about Monaco’s stance, however, there’s little reason to believe that West Ham wouldn’t at least be somewhat interested. It’s worth recalling that Dier was a regular starter for Santo during his brief and ill-starred spell as Spurs manager, too, and he would likely be relatively inexpensive given his age, even if none of the media outlets running the story have come up with Monaco’s asking price as yet.

Claims that Dier could be on his way to east London also need to be placed in the context of the fact that West Ham are being linked with a whole host of defenders, with Lecce’s Tiago Gabriel a rather younger player that they have allegedly already made a formal bid for. It may be that Dier is an option to be considered, but only one of many, or a back-up plan should preferred targets prove unobtainable.

As it stands, then, this is a story which could well prove to be true but which remains firmly unproven. Dier would be a sensible if relatively unexciting signing, a player who has been around the block enough times to help steady a sinking ship, and who would likely offer a more reliable presence at the back for a team in sincere need of a steady hand and a cool head in defence. It may also be that there’s no real chance that he leaves Monaco. We’ll find out more over the coming days.