Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier is 'nowhere near the required level' to bring the club success, according to journalist Ryan Taylor.

The Lowdown: Dier struggling

The defender has already been criticised by pundits for his performances this season, with journalist Kevin Palmer slamming his very poor performance in the 2-2 draw against Brentford, claiming he's 'not good enough' for a top six club.

Given that Cristian Romero has been injured for large parts of the season, Dier has been given a lot of game time by Antonio Conte, making 22 appearances in the Premier League, however he has left Taylor unimpressed...

The Latest: Criticised by Taylor

In an interview with GiveMeSport, the journalist name-checked a few Tottenham players who he has been disappointed by, and he reserved particularly scathing criticism for Dier, saying:

"Ben Davies, good squad player but he should not be a starter. Hugo Lloris, poor, while Eric Dier is just nowhere near the required level for what Spurs are trying to achieve."

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-4/" title="Tottenham latest news" poster="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-tottenham-fans.jpg" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

The Verdict: Not good enough

Taylor also described the Englishman as 'very poor' back in January, and that is a probably a fair assessment, given the level of his performances so far this season, as he is one of two Spurs players to have made an error leading to a goal.

In fairness, there have been some improved signs recently, with the 29-year-old impressing in the 2-0 victory against West Ham United at the weekend, winning six of his seven aerial duels, the second-highest amount of any player.

That being said, the Hammers offered little in the way of attacking threat, and the £85k-per-week earner does not put in those types of performances on a regular enough basis, ranked by Sofascore as Spurs' worst-performing outfield starter in the 4-1 defeat at Leicester City.

As such, Conte should look to bring in a new option at centre-back in the summer window, and The Daily Mail report that a dominant defender will be at the top of their wanted list this summer.