Mike Dean's future as a Premier League official is in doubt after the Premier League removed him from VAR duty for two months.
If someone asked you to name as many Premier League referees as possible, you would most likely start with Mike Dean.
During a 22-year career managing Premier League matches, Dean has earned a reputation as one of the best referees in the world.
Players as well as fans recognize Dean for his tough but fair style - very few referees can get away with hurting players but also taking away their mickey in the same match .
Not everyone is a fan of Dean, however, which became all the more apparent as his form and decision-making abilities seemed to falter over the last few seasons of his top refereeing career. . The 54-year-old stepped down as a Premier League referee at the end of last season and has been replaced by video assistant referee (VAR) this season.
However, Dean has not been named in a Premier League or FA Cup game for two months, even though he was VAR in Leicester City's 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on 11 February.
Although he made no mistakes in this game, he has faced some controversy this season.
In August, he failed to identify a red card for Tottenham defender Cristian Romero for his violent attack on Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella.
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Spurs scored the equalizer in the 95th minute from the corner, which would not have happened if Dean had advised VAR to intervene. Dean did not intervene when Bournemouth's Jefferson Lerma should have been sent off against West Ham, and he did not offer Wolves a seventh-minute penalty in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Molineux.
Former Premier League referee Howard Webb has been directing the removal of VAR since becoming the referee for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) - the organization that oversees referees in English football - in December.
Lee Mason and Neil Swarbrick were sacked after making mistakes in February, with the former stepping down from his VAR role six days later.
Webb has made it clear that officials need to be held accountable to officials, and sources have told ESPN that Dean's absence is performance-related.
Dean could be the latest victim of efforts to improve VAR referee standards in the Premier League.
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