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
Hosts Morocco off to winning start at Africa Cup of Nations
- Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco
- Win saw Morocco, Africa’s best team in FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches
RABAT: Brahim Diaz and Ayoub El-Kaabi scored second-half goals as hosts Morocco got their Africa Cup of Nations bid off to a winning start by beating minnows Comoros 2-0 in the tournament’s opening game on Sunday.
Soufiane Rahimi had a penalty saved in a frustrating first half for much-fancied Morocco, but Diaz fired home from inside the area 10 minutes after the interval at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the capital Rabat.
Substitute El-Kaabi then got the second with a stunning overhead kick, and the victory on a wet and cold night sets the Atlas Lions up for the potentially tougher tests to come in Group A against Mali and Zambia.
The result also allowed Morocco, Africa’s best team in the FIFA rankings in 11th place, to extend their world-record winning run to 19 consecutive matches.
The game was played out before a crowd of 60,180, with Moroccan Crown Prince Moulay Hassan — who appeared on the pitch ahead of kick-off — and FIFA president Gianni Infantino among those in attendance.
Morocco’s star man and captain Achraf Hakimi also ended up watching the entire game from the bench, with coach Walid Regragui preserving the Paris Saint-Germain full-back who has not played since suffering an ankle injury with his club at the start of November.
It looked set to be a long night for Comoros when Morocco won a penalty in the 10th minute as playmaker Diaz was tripped inside the box by Iyad Mohamed.
But Rahimi’s spot-kick was kept out by the legs of Yannick Pandor as the Comoros goalkeeper dived to his right, and the visitors then succeeded in thwarting their more illustrious hosts for the remainder of the first half.
- Stunning overhead kick -
However Morocco, who also saw veteran center-back Romain Saiss come off injured early on, succeeded in breaking down their opponents after half-time.
Comoros, the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago who are 108th in the world rankings, had their resistance ended as the opening goal arrived on 55 minutes.
Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, starting at right-back with Hakimi not yet quite fully fit, picked up the ball on the right side of the penalty area and squared for Real Madrid’s Spanish-born number 10 Diaz to score.
Morocco, who had seen Neil El Aynaoui almost break the deadlock just before that, then saw space open up although Comoros had a chance of their own as Rafiki Said was denied when clean through on goal.
Mazraoui forced a good save from Pandor before El-Kaabi, of Greek giants Olympiakos, lit up the occasion by meeting a cross in from the left by Anass Salah-Eddine with a magnificent overhead bicycle kick to make it 2-0.
Morocco’s next game will be on Friday against Mali, who begin their campaign by taking on Zambia in Casablanca on Monday.
Elsewhere on Monday, South Africa face Angola in Marrakech before Mohamed Salah’s Egypt — the record seven-time African champions chasing a first title since 2010 — get their bid up and running against outsiders Zimbabwe in Agadir in Group B.
This latest edition of the Cup of Nations is the first to start in one year and end in another, with the final to take place in Rabat on January 18.
