Eric Dier has called on the club to do the best job they can this summer after Antonio Conte and the Tottenham squad did their part in securing a place in next season's Champions League. Following a poor start to the term which culminated in Nuno Espirito Santo's sacking at the start of November, a top-four finish looked extremely unlikely with the Lilywhites lagging behind their rivals.
Despite a good start for Conte in his first two months in the job, Spurs' inconsistent form in January and February handed them an uphill task but they managed to prevail ahead of Arsenal following a fine end to the campaign. Speaking after Sunday's 5-0 triumph away at Norwich City, Dier believes it is now in the club's hands as they look to kick on with their top-four rivals, which could potentially include Newcastle United in 2022/23 due to their wealthy owners, who are likely to splash the cash and strengthen their ranks.
"Yeah, I think the club needs to take advantage of this moment, take advantage of this team and this manager," explained the centre-back. "It's in the club's hands now. We've done our job and now it's the club's job this summer to do the best work they can. I'm sure they'll try to do the best they can to put us in a position next season for us and the manager to continue to push on and get better and better."
READ MORE: What happened to Son Heung-min when he received Golden Boot award after tying with Mohamed Salah
He added: "It's not just investment. The club has a lot of room for improvement in many different areas. Everyone always points to investment but that's just one part of it. There's many areas we can improve and we need everyone to be going in the same direction. The players and the manager are. I'm sure the club will do the best they can as well."
Going without Champions League football in each of the past two seasons, a top-four berth was vital for Spurs this campaign in order to help them get back to their previous heights. Dier believes the club are in a brilliant position at present and it's imperative they keep moving forward.
"I think so. Obviously we've stabilised in the last five or six months, and we've been improving consistently and the results have come. There's still a lot of room for improvement and we want to fill that space," said the 28-year-old. "The club is in a great situation right now with the manager and players, where we should use this as a ramp to keep moving forward."
Ahead of Tottenham's trip to Norwich on the final day, Conte had admitted that he would have asked Spurs chairman Daniel Levy if he was joking had he requested a top-four finish upon his arrival in November. Dier himself even admitted that it wasn't something the players were targeting at the start of November given their struggles.
"It's fantastic for us. We're so happy to be back in the Champions League, it's where we want to be as players and a club when the manager arrived it wasn't really on our radar so to get it at the end is fantastic," he said.
"He's [Conte] obviously been a huge part of it, everything points to that. It's a bit awkward because he's standing right next to me [Conte was doing radio in the Mixed Zone at the same time] but yeah, he knows what we think of him and how much we enjoy working with him, and we want that to continue next season."
With so much experience in the game of contesting for the biggest prizes at the business end of the season, Conte has proved invaluable to Tottenham in the final few months. Even though Spurs were expected to go and get the job done at Norwich despite their lowly position, Conte reiterated to his players during the week that slip-ups against teams with nothing to play for do happen.
"Yeah, of course. I think the team is more mature, I feel we're coming of age, a lot of us. We're still young but with a lot of experience now all of us," admitted the ex-Sporting CP man. "I felt that experience in the last couple of games, the Arsenal game especially. And then to finish it off.
"Obviously the manager has tonnes of experience in these situations and he relayed that experience to us this week, telling us about titles he lost on the last day against teams that weren't playing for anything. So it was just about maintaining our standards all week and getting the job done. We did that."
Tottenham clinching a Champions League finish wasn't the only cause for celebration at Carrow Road on Sunday as Son Heung-min got his hands on the Premier League Golden Boot after his two strikes saw him share the award with Mohamed Salah after hitting 23 for the season. Admitting it is an "incredible" achievement for his teammate, Dier has also revealed that he could sense Son was becoming rather frustrated with Tim Krul denying him a number of times before his late double.
"Yeah, Sonny spoke to us afterwards. We're so happy for him. It's an incredibly achievement from him. To score 23 goals, and not one be a penalty, is unbelievable. So yeah, we're so happy for him," said Dier.
"Tim Krul was doing everything for it not to be. I could see Sonny getting frustrated but the second goal was amazing and he deserved it."
