Key reason Bayern Munich are targeting shock Eric Dier deal amid four transfer alternatives

Tottenham Hotspur look set to beat German giants Bayern Munich to the transfer of highly rated Genoa defender Radu Dragusin.

According to reports in Germany, Bayern’s attempts to hijack the deal have failed and the Romania international will travel to London today to complete his move to the North London club.

It will be Tottenham’s second signing of the January transfer window following the loan acquisition of German forward Timo Werner from RB Leipzig.

However, it leaves Bayern Munich scraping for alternatives in defence and, as such, they have been linked with a shock move for Tottenham centre-half Eric Dier.

Sky in Germany are reporting a verbal agreement has been made over the deal that will see the England international move to the Allianz Arena in a deal worth around $4.8million.

Dier has also agreed to a contract until June 2025 with the option of extending it a further year, according to the report, although the deal has risen some considerable eyebrows.

Why Bayern Munich are looking at a possible Eric Dier transfer

The 29-year-old has fallen out of favour under Ange Postecoglou and has made only four appearances for Tottenham this season.

The last of his 49 England caps came in the 2022 World Cup and he hasn’t been named in any of Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squads since March last year.

So it begs the question why would a team like Bayern Munich, who harbour genuine ambitions of winning the Champions League this season, turn to Dier?

The answer is that Dier has very similar characteristics to Dragusin and given the Bavarian side tried to hijack his move to Spurs, Dier presents a cut-price alternative they hope they can nurture back towards his top form.

Using Macro Football’s player impact tool, which uses analytics to understand a player’s seasonal impact, Dier ranks as one of the top five players similar to Dragusin in Europe’s top five leagues this term.

Dier boasts a 97.2% similarity to his soon to be Spurs replacement, only bettered by Raillo of Real Mallorca (99.4%), Simone Romagnoli of Frosinone (97.7%) and ex-Celtic defender Christopher Jullien of Montpellier (97.3%).

In terms of experience and knowhow of big games, Dier is head and shoulders above the three other players similar to Dragusin in this list and goes some way to explaining Bayern’s thinking.

The Bundesliga champions are also said to be keen on a loan deal for PSG defender Nordi Mukiele as they look for added competition to Matthijs De Ligt and Dayot Upamecano in defence, with Kim Min-Jae currently on international duty with South Korea.