Topics: Premier League, Mike Dean, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, FA Cup
Mike Dean's future as a Premier League official is in doubt after the Premier League took him off VAR duties for two months.
If someone were to ask you to name as many Premier League referees as you can, it's highly likely you'd start with Mike Dean.
Over a 22-year career officiating Premier League matches, Dean earned himself a reputation as one of the best referees in the world.
Players and supporters alike came to recognise Dean for his firm-but-fair style - not many referees could get away with giving players evils but also taking the mickey out of them in the same match.
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However, not everyone is a fan of Dean, something that became particularly apparent as his performance levels and decision-making appeared to slip during the last few seasons of his elite-level refereeing career.
The 54-year-old stepped down as a Premier League referee at the end of last season, and this season has been a video assistant referee (VAR) instead.
However, Dean has not been appointed to a match in the Premier League or FA Cup for two months, when he was the VAR during Leicester City's 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on February 11.
Although he didn't make any mistakes during that match, he has faced a number of controversies this season.
In August, he failed to identify a red card against Tottenham defender Cristian Romero for a violent hair pull on Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella.
Spurs scored a 95th-minute equaliser from the resulting corner, something which would not have happened had Dean advised a VAR intervention.
Dean failed to intervene when Bournemouth's Jefferson Lerma should have been sent off at West Ham, and he failed to recommend the awarding of a Wolves penalty in the seventh minute of Arsena's 2-0 win at Molineux.
Former Premier League referee Howard Webb has conducted something of a cull of VARs since he became chief refereeing officer for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) - the organisation that oversees refereeing in English football - in December.
Lee Mason and Neil Swarbrick were taken off duty after making mistakes in February, with the former resigning from his VAR role six days later.
Webb has made it clear that officials must be held accountable for officials, and sources have told ESPN that Dean's absence is performance-related.
It could well be that Dean is the latest victim of an effort to improve the level of VAR officiating in the Premier League.
