Anyone still fighting the good fight on behalf of Eric Dier, the England international linked with a move to West Ham United over the last two weeks, may feel like now is the right time to step back from the debate.
While West Ham are set to sign Fulham winger Adama Traore, another player Nuno Espirito Santo has worked with before has also featured heavily in the gossip columns.
Eric Dier praised Nuno initially at Tottenham Hotspur, only to see the now-West Ham United boss sacked four months in by Daniel Levy.
And if Nuno feels that the Hammers are in need of some added leadership, versatility and Premier League nous at the heart of a backline which has conceded more goals than any other in 2025/26, there was an argument to be made in favour of a 32-year-old Dier, even if Konstantinos Mavropanos and Jean-Clair Todibo were imperious against both Tottenham and Sunderland.
Summerville, Todibo and Mavropanos are firing at last!
Is your view of the Tim Steidten era changing? Or has the damage been done? 💸
But not any more.
A week after Dier the ‘disaster’ suffered a Real Madrid shellacking in the Champions League – he and former Hammer Thilo Kehrer were breached six times by Kylian Mbappe and co – the Monaco veteran has been denied the chance to make amends for the club’s biggest-ever European defeat.
Eric Dier’s Monaco injury surely ends West Ham United links
Monaco have confirmed that Dier will be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a hamstring injury.
He missed two months of action from October to December due to a similar problem late last year. And although Monaco are keen to point out that this latest issue does not seem quite so serious, West Ham need any new signings to come in and make an impact right away.
Simply put, there is no time to waste at the London Stadium. If his critics felt that signing a sluggish, ageing Eric Dier was the wrong move anyway, they will be emboldened by suggestions that he would spend potentially the first month of his West Ham life on the treatment table.
It should be said, though, that Dier was ‘offered’ to West Ham, rather than the other way around. That is according to talkSPORT, who suggest those links emerged from the player’s camp instead of the Hammers’.
West Ham reportedly do have an interest in Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock and Newcastle’s Jamaal Lascelles, though, plus Axel Disasi of Chelsea. Seemingly, they believe there is a place in Nuno’s team for an experienced defender with plenty of miles on the clock in terms of English football.
However, the likes of Tiago Gabriel, Roggerio Nyakossi and El Chadaille Bitshiabu have also been mentioned among a handful of young, up-and-coming centre-halves based on the continent.
Have your opinions of Mavropanos and Todibo CHANGED? 🧱 ❌
Do West Ham still need to sign a centre-back?
Hammers still want Charlie Cresswell as RB Leipzig rule out El Chadaille Bitshiabu deal
Charlie Cresswell remains the dream target for many supporters, though, and he falls somewhere in the centre of this Venn diagram.
A 23-year-old playing in France for Toulouse, but also an England Under-21 international who came through the ranks at Leeds.
The aforementioned Bitshiabu will be staying at RB Leipzig this month, meanwhile. German publication BILD say that the Bundesliga giants blocked a potential exit due to an injury to fellow centre-half Castello Lukeba.
“Chad is the logical option [to replace Lukeba],” said head coach Ole Werner. “It’s true that he certainly hasn’t had the playing time he’d hoped for, but now he has his chance to prove himself.
“Chad is a young guy who has already proven what he’s capable of. He’s done well in his appearances this season, and therefore he has our full confidence that he can play good games for us.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
