Eric Dier looking forward to facing former Tottenham teammate Paulinho

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Eric Dier looks set to come up against former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Paulinho when England meet Brazil on Tuesday.

Eric Dier has told Tottenham’s official website that he is looking forward to facing former Spurs teammate Paulinho when England take on Brazil at Wembley on Tuesday, and insisted that it is fantastic to see what he has achieved.

Paulinho was one of the players who arrived at White Hart Lane in the wake of Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid. And unfortunately for the 29-year-old, he never quite seemed able to find his best form for Tottenham before he left for Guangzhou Evergrande in 2015.

With the Chinese Super League still looking to build its reputation, it came as a major shock to many fans when he secured a move to Barcelona in 2017, for whom he has done well, scoring three times in 10 La Liga appearances.

And ahead of Brazil’s friendly with England on Tuesday, Dier – who joined Spurs one year after the midfielder – has expressed his delight at seeing how Paulinho’s career has played out since he left the Premier League, and insisted that it will be good to meet up with his old teammate once again as he was someone that he got on extremely well with when they were in the same team.

“He’s gone from China, now back to Europe with Barcelona. It’s great that he’s in the Brazil squad and at Barcelona – it’s fantastic for him and it’ll be nice to see him again. It’s always enjoyable when you play against players who you’ve shared a locker room with – to meet them further down the line is always nice,” he told Tottenham’s official website.

“He’s done very well in the last few years and I’m really happy for him. He was always very good to me when I first arrived at Spurs – we spent one season together and he’s a really nice guy.”