Spurs’ Dier gets first England call-up

In fine form for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, Dier is the grandson of Ted Croker a former secretary of the Football Association.

He was born in England but spent much of his childhood in Portugal, where he played at the famous Sporting Lisbon academy.

Before this season he was predominantly deployed as a central defender or full back, but for Spurs this season he has given a few impressive performances as a holding midfielder.

The friendlies against reigning champions Spain and next summers hosts France will be big tests for England who breezed through qualifying with a 100% record. Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson are among the injured which was partly what prompted Hodgson to select Dier, who has previously been an Under-21 with Gareth Southgate’s squad.

Hodgson said of Dier: “He’s done very well”. Obviously it’s a position in the centre of midfield where we wanted someone of a more defensive bent and there are not a lot of those players available.

Delph, who played just nine minutes in City’s midweek clash after missing more than two months with injury has been named in the squad.

“Of course I have an opinion on it because the ideas came from us in the first place”, the England manager said.

Meanwhile, both Mathieu Valbuena and Karim Benzema have been left out of the France squad for games against Germany and England.

“His job should be definitely to try to convince us he’s got the ability to play as a forward in an England team and not get too hung up – as I see a few people wanting to get hung up – on thinking he’ll only be good if he plays “here”. “Having seen what he can do for Tottenham we can see what he can do for us”.