MUNICH: Eric Dier is joining his old Tottenham teammate Harry Kane at Bayern Munich.
The England defender signed for Bayern on a six-month loan through to the end of the season Thursday. Tottenham said Bayern had the option to make the move permanent after that, while the German club referred to “the option for a further year.”
“This move is a dream come true for me, because as a child you want to play for a club like Bayern one day,” Dier said in a statement issued by Bayern. “Bayern are one of the biggest clubs in the world and have an incredible history. I want to help the team with my versatility in defense.”
Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said the club had long aimed to sign Dier and indicated he expected the experienced defender to be a positive locker-room influence as well as a “valuable part of our defense.”
Tuchel had previously warned not to assume a deal was already done — a reference to how Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha arrived in Munich in September only for the transfer to collapse at the last minute — but this time things went smoothly.
Dier has played just four games this season for Tottenham, with his comparative lack of pace seen as a poor fit for manager Ange Postecoglou’s high defensive line. Dier’s only start of the season came in a 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton in November.
Dier’s arrival adds instant depth to a thin Bayern defense which has been depleted further by Kim Min-jae playing for South Korea at the Asian Cup this month. Dier mostly played as a defensive midfielder earlier in his career but Tuchel said he saw Dier nowadays as a “specialist” in central defense.
Dier has played 49 times for England, including at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and made his most recent appearance in April.
Bayern sign England defender Eric Dier from Tottenham on loan to join up with Harry Kane
https://arab.news/wkant
Bayern sign England defender Eric Dier from Tottenham on loan to join up with Harry Kane
- The England defender signed for Bayern on a six-month loan through to the end of the season Thursday
- “This move is a dream come true for me, because as a child you want to play for a club like Bayern one day,” Dier said
Morocco banish any doubts about ability to host World Cup 2030
- Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the 24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time
RABAT: Morocco’s successful staging of the Africa Cup of Nations means there should be no skepticism about its ability to co-host the World Cup with Portugal and Spain in 2030, even if Sunday’s final was clouded by a walk-off and defeat for the home team.
Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the
24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time.
Morocco plans to use six venues in 2030 and five of them were used for the Cup of Nations, providing world-class playing surfaces and a spectacular backdrop.
The Grande Stade in Tangier with a 75,000 capacity is an impressive facility in the northern coastal city, less than an hour’s ferry ride from Spain.
Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino condemned "some Senegal players" for the "unacceptable scenes" which overshadowed their victory in the final when they left the pitch in protest at a penalty awarded to Morocco.
African football's showpiece event was marred by most of the Senegal team walking off when, deep into injury time of normal play and with the match locked at 0-0, Morocco were awarded a spot-kick following a VAR check by referee Jean-Jacques Ndala for a challenge on Brahim Diaz.
security personnel at the other end of the stadium, Senegal's players eventually returned to the pitch to see Diaz shoot a soft penalty into the arms of their goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The match was played at the Stade Moulay Abdellah in the capital Rabat, which has a capacity of 69,500. The attendance for the final was 66,526.
Stadiums in Agadir, Fes and Marrakech were also more than adequate and will now be renovated over the next few years.
But the crowning glory is the proposed 115,000-capacity Stade Hassan II on the outskirts of Casablanca which Morocco hope will be chosen to host the final over Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
In all, Morocco will spend $1.4 billion on the six stadiums. Also planned is extensive investment in airports, with some 10 Moroccan cities already running direct air links to Europe and many budget airlines offering flights to the country.
An extension of Africa’s only high-speed rail service, which already provides a comfortable three-hour ride from Tangier to Casablanca, further south to Agadir and Marrakech is also planned. Morocco hopes all of this will modernize its cities and boost the economy.
On the field, Morocco will hope to launch a credible challenge for a first African World Cup success, although on Sunday they continued their poor return in the Cup of Nations, where their only triumph came 50 years ago.
They surprised with a thrilling run to the last four at the Qatar 2022 World Cup as the first African nation to get that far and will hope for a similar impact at this year’s finals in North America. They are in Group C with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
