Eric Dier has challenged himself to reach the levels of Javier Mascherano and Philipp Lahm who are experts at playing in different positions.
The England international began life as a centre-half, but last year was deployed as a central midfielder, before reverting to defence again this term after an injury to Toby Alderweireld has seen him cover for the Belgian.
Speaking to theEvening Standard,the Tottenham man said:I could do a list of loads of top players who play in many different positions. David Alaba and Philipp Lahm of Bayern Munich, or Javier Mascherano of Barcelona.
People always seem to want to pin me down to one position but I see players all over Europe who play in more than one. It ensures they get appearances for their clubs and it's a fantastic weapon for a manager.
It's a bit stupid to be talking about it [playing in a specific position]. If I could get to the level of players like Alaba, Lahm or Mascherano, I would be a very happy man.�
But despite setting incredibly high levels for himself in Spurs' magnificent season in 2015/16, Dier has admitted that the first nine games of the season have not gone as he would have hoped after signing a new deal in the summer.
I'm quite disappointed with how it's gone so far this season. For the first couple of games of the season I wasn't at my usual standard, even though I don't think I was way below it.
Then I got the little injury which kept me out for a couple of weeks and I'm just trying to rebuild now. Confidence-wise, I feel OK but it's just been a bit stop-start.Coming back late for pre-season after Euro 2016, it's been a difficult start to the season but in every game, I'm starting to feel a lot better.�