Eric Dier rejected the chance to play for European champions Portugal and instead pull on England jersey
Dier grew up in Portugal but says he's 100% English and never had any intention of playing for another country
ERIC DIER could have been a European champion had it turned out differently.
Portugal asked about him playing for them as a teenager at Sporting Lisbon — but the Tottenham star is England through and through.
Dier is desperate to erase the memories of the appalling end to the summer by paying fans back at the World Cup in two years’ time.
He watched his old Portuguese pals win the Euros after the Three Lions crashed out to Iceland.
But despite the pain, he insisted he has no regrets over his big international decision.
Dier said: “When I was younger they spoke to Sporting about it, but nothing really came of it. It’s a bit late to turn around now!
“I’m English and have never said the opposite — 100 per cent English.
“In Portugal, a lot of Brazilians play and they’re not Portuguese. When I was growing up I wasn’t a big fan of that.
“When I grew up, I always had the idea that I would play for England. I’m fully English, but Portugal is my home.
“My parents are English, I was born in England my grandparents are English so I’m English. It’s pretty simple.
“I was very happy at Lisbon, but never once did I think ‘I should be playing for Portugal’.”
Dier’s father Jeremy was a tennis professional who travelled with his work, meaning the Spurs midfielder moved to Portugal when he was aged just seven.
As a youngster he rubbed shoulders with tennis stars and still likes to get to the big matches. He said: “I met Bjorn Borg, Henri Leconte, John McEnroe. I was extremely lucky.
“I was also around a lot of junior tennis players like Grigor Dimitrov and Bernard Tomic. They were around and I used to watch a lot of junior tennis, as well as seniors.”
Dier was never going to pursue tennis, especially as he was making the grade at Sporting, where he played with other future stars.
He said: “At Sporting I played with Rui Patricio, the goalkeeper, Cedric, who is at Southampton now, Adrien Silva, William Carvalho, Joao Mario, who is at Inter Milan now, and I played against Andre Gomes, who is at Barcelona.
“I was away for the final of the Euros and there were a lot of French people there who thought I was an Englishman who didn’t want France to win. It was funny.”
But playing for England, rather than Portugal, was always the ambition for the 22-year-old defender turned midfielder.
He is set to feature on Tuesday in the friendly against Spain, the country he made his international debut against last season.
After forcing his way into the shake-up for the Euros he felt the deep disappointment at how it ended against Iceland — and wants to make amends.
He said: “It’s going to take a long time to apologise for that game.
“You can only look two years down the line and qualifying for the World Cup and going there and doing well.
“When I play for England, I have the feeling that what the fans want is not so much the result.
“It’s more about going home and thinking: ‘You know what? They gave it their best go. They left everything out there. They gave everything’.
“They think: ‘There was nothing more they could have done and we enjoyed watching them’.
“It’s not winning it. It’s going there and leaving the right image that we have a way of playing football, we believe in that way and we gave everything playing that way.
“That for me is the most important thing.”
His standout performances were one of the bright points of a depressing summer.
And they have lead to many suggesting Dier could become a future England captain.
After choosing to focus on the Three Lions, leading them out would vindicate his decision even more.
He said: “I’d like to think one day I could fill that role, but I’m quite young at the moment and still finding my feet.
“I enjoy learning a lot from my captain here.
“Wayne Rooney is a fantastic captain and great for us young players as he really helps us and I’ve learnt a lot from him.
“I need to learn from a few more captains before I can think of being one myself.”