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Roberts suggests Dier should replace Bentancur in Spurs midfield

Jordan Harris

Mon 13 February 2023 12:15, UK

Graham Roberts has backed Eric Dier to be the player to fill the void left by Rodrigo Bentancur after Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that the midfielder will miss the rest of the season.

Spurs have been dealt a huge blow ahead of the final months of the campaign. Bentancur was taken off just before the midway point in the second-half of Saturday’s defeat to Leicester. Immediately there were concerns over how serious the injury was.

Fabrizio Romano was amongst those on Sunday to report that Bentancur was facing at least six months on the sidelines. .

Roberts backs Dier to replace Bentancur

It is a massive setback for Antonio Conte’s side. Few players seem to go on the Tottenham team sheet before Bentancur when he is available. And his partnership with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has been outstanding over the last 12 months.

So replacing the Uruguayan is going to be a huge task for Conte.

What does not help is that Yves Bissouma is also sidelined right now. And of course, Tottenham have a huge Champions League tie with AC Milan ahead this week.

But Roberts believes that Dier is the obvious choice to fill that role while Bentancur is out…

He should move dier into midfield and we will have at the back Romero, Sanchez and Davies or Lenglet

— Graham Roberts (@GrahamRoberts4)

Moving Dier out of the defence may appear a gamble. But he has not been in good form at centre-back of late. Tony Cascarino claimed that he is an extremely average defender at Premier League level. And of course, he goes into the Milan game having produced a poor display at Leicester at the weekend.

The problem is that Dier has not played in midfield for some time. So it would be a risk. But whoever Tottenham turn to is facing a huge task given that they are replacing Bentancur.