Eric Dier has withdrawn from the England Under-21 squad because the Tottenham Hotspur defender no longer wants to play at right-back.

The 20-year-old asked Gareth Southgate if he could be excluded from the friendlies against Portugal and France as he wants to concentrate on playing in the centre of defence.

Dier has played at right-back in all but two of his 13 appearances for Tottenham since he joined from Sporting Lisbon in the summer.

Southgate said Dier still wants to play for England but following the request has left him out of the next two games.

“Eric feels he wants to start establishing himself as a centre-back at Tottenham so we agreed for these games he could stay away,” the Under-21 manager told the Sun. “He would have been in the squad but he and his dad said: ‘Can we have a chat?’

“He didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding about him not wanting to play for England because he still does. This is very much a development thing for him. It was quite refreshing in a way, although it took me by surprise a little bit.

“I get what he is saying. He feels there are parts of his game he wants to work at. Long-term we both agree he is unlikely to be a full-back. He is going to be a centre-back.”

Carl Jenkinson will fill the gap at right-back but Southgate would not have let Dier withdraw had either of the matches been a qualifier. “He has my blessing. I am completely comfortable with this. If we’d had a qualifier, we would have said: ‘Look, we need you for this,’ but we have Carl Jenkinson who can play there.”