Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has affirmed that out-of-favour centre-back Eric Dier is in his plans for the 2023-24 season.
The England international was strongly linked with a move away in the summer transfer window, having entered the final year of his contract in North London.
Dier was a stalwart in the heart of Antonio Conte's backline, but he lost his place in the XI under Ryan Mason towards the end of last season owing to a number of underwhelming performances.
However, it soon emerged that the 29-year-old was nursing a groin injury, which he underwent surgery for towards the end of the campaign, and he has not been seen in action for the Lilywhites since.
During his recovery period, Spurs added Micky van de Ven to their defensive ranks from Wolfsburg, in addition to bringing in 18-year-old protege Ashley Phillips from Blackburn Rovers.
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Van de Ven has quickly become Cristian Romero's first-choice partner in Postecoglou's four-man backline, and Dier has not even made a matchday squad in the 2023-24 campaign so far.
Davinson Sanchez and Ben Davies were preferred as backups before the international break, but the former has now joined Galatasaray on a permanent deal, possibly allowing Dier to force his way back into the Lilywhites ranks.
Both Dier and exiled goalkeeper Hugo Lloris - who failed to secure a summer exit - have been named in Spurs' 25-man Premier League squad, and speaking to the media on Friday, Postecoglou affirmed that the former had never been out of the first-team picture.
"I think it was a fairly fluid situation. We weren't sure what was going to happen with Hugo. Dier was never out of the squad, he had an injury but is back now," Postecoglou said.
"At the end of the window we saw the numbers we had and there was room for both of them. They've been training with the squad so they continue to be part of it."
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Postecoglou was also quizzed on the overall fitness of his troops after a fortnight of international action, and he confirmed that Giovani Lo Celso is still missing with a quadriceps strain.
Rodrigo Bentancur was spotted on the training fields on Thursday, but he is still some way from coming back from his ACL injury, although young striker Alejo Veliz is in contention to play after shaking off an unspecified problem.
"Everyone's back. We had everyone back yesterday. Had more of a recovery session. All good, got through training ok. At this moment everyone came through," the 58-year-old added.
"[Lo Celso] is not available for this weekend. He trained with us yesterday but we're going to give it another week. Alejo is finally on the pitch, which is great.
"It was his first session yesterday. He's been impatient waiting to get started. It was good to have him involved yesterday and he'll be available from here on as well."
Postecoglou leads Spurs into Saturday's game with Sheffield United having won his first Premier League Manager of the Month award for August, while James Maddison also scooped the Player of the Month prize.
