Players have no say in their huge price tags: Eric Dier

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Bengaluru, September 4: Tottenham Hotspur's English midfielder Eric Dier has stated that it is unfair to blame footballers for high transfer fees and wages.

In this summer transfer window, the world record fee for a player broke when Paris Saint German signed Neymar for a whopping £222 million and Spanish giants Barcelona signed Dortmund youngster Ousmanne Dembele for £140 million.

Added to that, the record for transfer fee will be again broken next season when PSG will land Monaco youngster for £180 million after acquiring him on loan this season with an option of further buy.

And according to Dier, blaming players and adding pressure for the price tag is uncalled for as many of the top earning players are still young and they have to handle an unfavourable situation.

"It isn't easy, people don't realise how difficult it is for us to handle as a situation," said the England midfielder.

"At the end of the day we're all the same, we're normal human beings with a gift we've been given, so it's very difficult to handle all of those situations that happen in football with money and fame etc.

"It's not Ousmane Dembele's fault that he's good at football and someone (at Barcelona) is willing to pay £140million for him. It's more to do with people way up the food chain.

"Everyone knows we are role models and we need to try to carry ourselves in the right way, because thousands or millions of kids are looking up to you in a sense. I think footballers in general as role models are really fantastic and I will say that for all the boys here (with England), I think everyone carries themselves really well."

The 23-year-old who was groomed in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon, however, adviced on how to deal with such situations. As per his stand, the young footballers should only think about playing rather than thinking about off the field issues.

"I think it's best if footballers worry about playing football," he said. "I take the philosophy that if I worry about the football everything else will take care of itself."

Dier was linked with a big money move to Manchester United in the summer, however, the deal did not materialise and has started all three games for Spurs winning only once.