“Portugal is the country that made me who I am” | Eric Dier in FC Bayern Video Podcast

Since joining FC Bayern in January from Tottenham Hotspur, Eric Dier has been a regular in the starting XI. The English international joins this edition of our video podcast, talking about the influence Harry Kane had on his move to Bayern, the differences between the EPL and Bundesliga, his Portuguese heritage and his pregame rituals.

Topics:
00:00 Intro
03:53 Adoption to Munich and FCB
06:32 Dier on Kane
08:19 Difference between EPL and Bundesliga
10:05 Quality of Neuer and Musiala
11:38 Dier on being a father
13:26 English childhood
16:01 Advice of his dad (former Tennis-Pro)
19:13 Toughest opponent
20:30 Goal: Winning a trophy

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– Eric, very warm welcome. – Thank you very much. It’s a big first for me, for all of us. The first English podcast for FC Bayern. Very glad you’re here. Thank you very much. I’m very happy to be here. Are we able to switch to German and leave the English away? Not yet? – No. How is your German doing? Sehr, sehr gut. Sehr, sehr gut. That sounds good. No, I’m having lessons. So… I have lessons every morning at the club with Max, the teacher. – Every morning? – Every morning, yeah, before training. I’m trying my best, but… Yeah, it’s… I think it’s going okay. You’re obviously good with languages. Portuguese, right? – Yes. – Spanish? – Yeah. English, obviously. Yeah. Portuguese, Spanish, English. But German is something completely different just because the Latin languages like Portuguese, Spanish, they’re very similar. Italian, French, I can understand quite a lot, but obviously this is something completely different. The way in German you format the sentences as well is different to English. This is a little complicated. If it was a direct translation, it would be a little bit easier. But… I will get there. Do you have a first favourite sentence in German? Something you kind of use more often. Maybe out on the field or something. – No… Auf geht’s. – Auf geht’s. “Servus” all the time. All the time. Bis morgen. Guten Morgen. Yeah. These are my most common ones, I would say. Sounds pretty good. – It’s basic, but, yeah… – It helps. I will get there. By the summer, I will be able to do something. Ok, that sounds good. – That sounds like… – I’ll be back. I’ll be back with you in the summer. Great. Then we do one in German for our German fans as well. It will be very short. We have a small tradition, I’d say. We always prepare a present. Our producer does. He reads a lot about our guests, Daniel, and he found out a couple of things about you. So, that’s the present. – Thank you very much. – Go ahead. Unwrap it. – Let our listeners know. – I love a present. Well, it’s… I can tell it’s a book, and I think it’s in German. So, this is going to be something that’s… Oh, nice. Oh, very nice book. It’s “Take Me to the Lakes – München Edition”. Yeah, because I’ve been to Tegernsee. Yes. I think these are all the lakes around Munich. – Yes, that’s right. That is. That is a very, very nice book. Good idea! – Thank you very much. Yeah, very good idea. But that brings up, obviously, that first topic. We saw you at Lake Tegernsee on Instagram. Yeah. Is that something you really enjoy about Munich? The nature? Yeah, I like the nature a lot. My family as well, my wife and… Yeah, my daughter is a baby, so she doesn’t know yet, but she has no choice but to like it. But it’s always good for her to be out in the fresh air. I have a dog, so I like to walk. Nature is probably where I feel most comfortable. So… So, yeah, Munich is a fantastic city for me in this sense, because, even in the city, there is a lot. There are a lot of parks. And yeah, to Tegernsee. I went twice to Tegernsee, actually. It’s a really beautiful, beautiful place. We had a great time there, and the weather was good. We had a walk around the lake and had some food, and it was very nice. So you and your dog as well adapted well to Munich. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very well. I really love the city. It’s very different to London, where I was before. A lot smaller, calmer, and no traffic. Everything is easy to drive to. The weather… Even when it’s cold, I find a lot of the time the sky is blue and it’s sunny. This is very nice. And as I said before, the nature. So yeah, we’re very happy, very, very happy in the city. And obviously a big club. FC Bayern Munich. Yeah, yeah. Your first impressions of this club? Obviously, I had already a very good idea of the club, because of its size and its history. It’s one of those clubs that it doesn’t matter where you live, anywhere in the world, wherever you’re from, you know about Bayern Munich. You already have a very good idea. You already know a bit of the history. You know some of the great players that have played here. It’s one of those clubs that even without arriving, you already know a lot about it. And then obviously, when I arrived, you’re still hit with a bit of a surprise of how big it really is. And… I really feel very, very proud to play for this club. Very, very proud. It’s also a club that I feel I identify with myself. Has it been a very easy, very quick decision making on this one to come here? Yeah. Very quick. When I knew there was the opportunity, there was one phone call and… Let’s go. And here I am. Not a second phone call to Harry Kane? To ask him about this club? No, there was some… We had some text messages, but to be honest, we didn’t speak too much. Before, we spoke a little bit. I was following Bayern probably more than in previous years, just because he was playing here. You know, when your friends go to play at certain clubs, I star them on LiveScore so I can follow a bit closer the clubs that my friends play for and, obviously, watch a bit more of them. So, I was already doing that, which obviously, not thinking at the time that I was coming, but obviously that helped me as well. And then I spoke to him a little bit and, there wasn’t need for any convincing. It was just asking him about the club, the city. I knew that he was adapting very well and he was enjoying it a lot already. And then, yeah, here we are. Did he help you to introduce you to everyone? Yeah, obviously. It’s obviously a lot easier when you have someone that you know very well that is already at a club. But then there are lots of players as well that you come across in your career. Maybe you don’t know them personally, but you know… Choupo, I played against him a long time ago when he was at Stoke, and Serge Gnabry, obviously. He played for Arsenal and West Brom in England, so I played against him. Leroy, the same. I played a few times against Germany, against Manu and Thomas, Leon and Josh. So, you already know each other a little bit, but then obviously it’s different on a personal level, you then playing with each other, but there’s already that thing where you’ve crossed paths before. And you mostly did play with Harry. Yeah. You are a defender, let’s talk about Harry and his qualities. Why is he that good? I don’t know. He’s extremely focused, extremely hardworking. Naturally, I think all of us are competitive. You know, to be in this position, you have to be very competitive. I think me and him, apart from the six months before, we’ve pretty much shared our whole professional careers together, more or less. A little bit at the beginning we missed together, but he’s just very consistent. I would say this is the biggest thing about him. He’s very consistent every day in the way that he works and the way that he prepares himself. And then obviously the games are just a continuation of that consistency that he shows every day in his behaviours, in the way that he trains, the way that he tries to get better. And yeah, his consistency over the last 10 years is incredible. Yeah, he obviously adapted to the Bundesliga very well, very fast. You did as well. What’s the difference between the Bundesliga and the Premier League? There is a lot of quality in the Bundesliga. I think the games are a little bit more tactical. It’s less of a tennis match, you know, where it goes back and forth. – I think this in England is… – Still some kick and rush? Not kick and rush, but a lot of transitions. It’s very fast from one end of the pitch to the other, where in Germany I feel like both teams, even maybe the smaller teams that play against us, they still want to try and arrive in our half of the pitch in controlled possession. Whereas in England, I feel that it goes back and forth a lot more, a lot quicker. Does that change anything for you personally in the way you play? You have to adapt? I think so. Just understanding that a little bit. I think, obviously for us, many times we dominate in possession, and it’s about trying to stay patient. I think, discipline is shown in many ways. And I think one way discipline is showed is just to have the patience to keep doing the same thing over and over again, and trust that it will arrive. The goals will arrive, the chances arrive, to mentally stay quite stable and not get frustrated. Do you think there are different types of defenders, and if so, what kind of type are you? How would you describe your game? I think every footballer tries to play to their strengths individually. What are yours? It’s difficult to speak about your own qualities. I prefer someone else to speak for me. Your first training sessions here, apart from Harry that you already knew very well, who impressed you? Everywhere there is quality in this team. From afar, I’ve always been a huge fan of Manu. Just incredible, incredible goalkeeper. To play with him is fantastic. I love playing with him. I really like his demeanour, his personality and his calmness on the pitch. It’s very nice to feel that from behind you. And obviously, I want to give that to the people in front of me as well, that same feeling of calmness. I think as defensive players, that’s what you want to give the rest of the team, that feeling of ‘don’t worry, it’s okay, I’m here. I’m here for you.‘ So, I’d say Manu, and then… I knew about Jamal, but obviously seeing him up close and playing on the same team as him, I would say he’s the best talent I’ve ever seen, I think. – Wow. – What I think surprised me the most maybe is his physicality. It’s deceiving how fast and agile and strong he is. And then, obviously, you pair that with his technical ability. And now at the moment, he’s becoming more and more decisive with assists and goals, which obviously for an offensive player is the icing. But his talent is undeniable. So, we talked about your start at the club now. On the private side of life, your start into this year was special as well. – You had a child. – Oh, thank you, yeah. – Congratulations. – Thank you. Your first daughter, right? Yeah, it was very special. She was born in London. I was in Portugal, we were in the training camp, and then I flew back for her birth. Luckily, I was there in time. My wife deserves all the credit, because I didn’t really do anything, and she had to deal with being by herself and me not being there. So, she’s the one that deserves all the credit. Do you think about what’s important for you in raising a child? Or is that just something that comes out of you… No, it’s something I’ve thought about for a very long time. Yeah. It’s the biggest responsibility in life, you know? So, I think I’ve thought about it a lot, I’ve debated it a lot with many people for many years before I was even a father. The best advice I’ve ever been given, I think, is to focus on your own behaviour, because all they do is copy you. So, if you carry yourself in the right way and you live your life in the right way, whatever the right way is to you. You have to trust that it is the right way. But if you live your life in that way, then hopefully she has a good role model to follow. This is probably the biggest challenge. It does sound like she does have a perfect role model. Probably a good moment for us to step back a little bit, to go back in time. You were born in Cheltenham. Yeah. What’s that like? Can you kind of describe to our listeners? It’s a funny thing, because everyone always says like: ‘Oh, he’s from Cheltenham’, but I’m not from Cheltenham. My grandma, she passed away now, but she was from Cheltenham, and she lived in Cheltenham. My mum was pregnant with me, and my dad was away, just like I was. A tennis pro player? Yeah, but he’s past this. Like his work afterwards. So, my mum went to stay with her mum, just because I was due at some point. And so she went to stay with her mum in Cheltenham, and I was born in Cheltenham, but I think I spent one day there or two days, I don’t know. I don’t know how long I was in the hospital, then we went home. So I’m not really from there. It’s just I was born there just because that’s how it happened. And so you’re actually from where? What would you say? Because that’s an interesting story. We’ll lead up to that. I don’t really know where I’m from in that sense. There wasn’t really anything near us. We lived in south of London, about an hour and a half south of London. I think the closest town was a town called Horsham, not far from Brighton. So, English countryside as you would imagine? Yeah, kind of. Yeah, exactly. I was there until I was seven, until I moved to Portugal, so I don’t really remember. I remember the house a little bit that we lived in, but I don’t really remember anything. I was too young. I don’t really remember anything from that time. All I remember is from pictures and what people tell me. Yeah, we can talk about Portugal later on or just now. But as you mentioned, your father, Jeremy, he was a tennis pro player, is that right? Yeah, when he was young. Did you try to get you into tennis as well? No, I played a lot of tennis, obviously, because of this. When I was young, I played a lot of tennis as well. It’s definitely like my second sport in terms of my… I don’t play it a lot now, but in terms of my quality, I’d say it’s better than my golf. But, you try that as well? – You have a lot of teammates here. – Yeah. Golf is the sport I definitely play the most other than football, but when I was growing up it was obviously tennis and football. But yeah, from a very young age, I was obsessed with football. Did your father ever give you any advice in the sense of what it is like to be a pro? Yeah, of course. He was the biggest influence on me. Obviously, as my parent as well, but him and my mother, he was able to guide me. Especially in my teenage years. Obviously from his experiences, if you’re trying to become a professional. So obviously that had a big impact on me. Yeah. So, we already mentioned Portugal. I would say you’re almost half-Portuguese. How far would you go? Yeah. Tell us about it. Tell the fans out there. What’s the background with the Portugal story? I moved to Portugal when I was… I think I was seven. I started playing for Sporting Lisbon when I was eight years old and I made my debut in the professional, the senior team at 18, and then at 20 I signed for Tottenham. So yeah, Sporting is really like… what Bayern is to Thomas [Müller]. This is my home, kind of, where I’m from, where I was built. It’s difficult to explain, but I would say I’m English, but I’m from Portugal. Portugal is the country that made me who I am today. My whole life was in Portuguese for many years. And my mum was worried I was going to forget how to speak English at one point. But… So yeah, Portugal is home for me. So, we did learn a lot about you and your roots already. Of course, we asked our fans to ask a couple of questions towards you as well, because they want to get to know you better as well. We have them in here, in this cup. – That’s a nice mug. It is. It does have Eric Dier. – Oh, it’s got a picture of me as well. – Go ahead, take the cup. – I’ll take the cup. Yeah, take the cup and maybe you just pick out two or three questions. – Are they in German or English? They should be in English. What is/was your idol on your position? I didn’t really have like a specific idol growing up. I had like… My idol-idol was Rafael Nadal, or is Rafael Nadal. He still plays… This was my…. – That’s interesting, because… – Yeah, this was my sporting idol growing up. He was like my hero. And my brothers’ as well. We were huge, huge fans. In football, it changed a lot. I really liked Gerard Pique at Barcelona. I liked Nemanja Vidic when he was at Man United. He’s one of the reasons I wear 15, was because of this. There were some players at Sporting. Anderson Polga, he was a Brazilian centre-back. Pedro Barbosa was a midfielder at Sporting when I was growing up. He was the captain of Sporting. So yeah, I think as time moved… Roy Keane I really liked as well at one point. That’s a lot of interesting names. Let’s go ahead and take a second question. Which player was the hardest to defend against? When I was playing still as a defensive midfielder, I played against Philippe Coutinho when he was at Liverpool. I thought he was just amazing. This is always the one that sticks out to me. I played him once at Anfield, and yeah, he was amazing. I think we have time for one more question. – One more? – One more. Do you have any rituals before a game? Way too many for the length of this podcast. – Really? – Way too many. My mother, she always messages me the same message before every game. Always. And I always reply the same message. – At the same point of time? Before the game, more or less, like… This is for years. For years and years. Anything with the shoes or the field? No, I like my socks to be a certain way, but it’s just like specific. I do the same warm-up before I go out onto the pitch. I do exactly the same thing before every game. Sometimes it’s too many. – It makes my life more complicated than easy. – I can imagine. But if we’re winning, they stay the same. If we’re losing, then they change as well. – That’s interesting. – Too superstitious. It’s good to hear. We have one more thing we always do in this podcast. It’s called the “Steilpass”. The guest before you… Yeah. “Steilpass” is a “through pass” in English? It’s a long ball. Long flat ball, through pass. The guest before asked one question, in this case, Linda Dallmann, she’s a player from our female team. Okay. Did she know it was me coming on? No, she did not, so it’s a general question. Let’s give it a listen. It’s in German. And we’ll try to find out if you understand right away. "What’s definitely on your to-do list this year?" The bucket list or the to-do list for this year. Is there anything special on it? Yeah. I want to win a trophy. Well, that sounds good. What kind of guy are you approaching the future? You trust in the flow, or do you try to adjust as many things as possible yourself? No, no. Matt Doherty is a good friend of mine. We have this saying which we always say to each other, which is: “Availability is the best ability." I try and live by this. For me, it’s about just doing the right things right now, doing the best podcast possible. And then after that we will focus on whatever is next. I think the best thing to do is to try and be present. And try and do everything as best as I can, train as well as I can every day to prepare myself for the game and then play as well as I can each game. And then what will be, will be at the end. That’s a good one. I’ll take that with me. And many of the viewers and listeners can take that. – Don’t listen to me too much. – With them as well. That’s a good one to finish this one off. Of course, we want to have one question, one “Steilpass” from your side for the next guest. I don’t really want to ask, like, a generic sports question. Oh, I like this one. – Okay, that’s perfect. – I like this one. Dinner for four people. You are one of them, obviously. So you have three more guests. Who are they? I like that. We’ll “Steilpass” that to our next guest. Thank you very much, Eric. We were very happy to have you here. No, thank you for having me. We are very happy to have you here in our club. Thanks for being with us. My pleasure. – Thank you for having me. – All the best for the future. Thanks. Thank you.