The list of players that have gone on to great things after graduating from Southampton’s academy over the years is a sight to behold.
Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, James Ward-Prowse, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw. Saints’ trust in youth is well established.
Their latest rapidly rising star goes by the name of Tyler Dibling.
The winger does not turn 19 until February, but has established himself as a regular in Russell Martin’s team and been the shining light in a campaign that has been a struggle overall so far.
Naturally and not unexpectedly, top Premier League clubs have been alerted to his progress. Tottenham are the latest club to have been linked with the teenager, while Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth is also said to be an admirer of the England U19 international’s talents.
Here, Sky Sports takes a look at his journey to the Southampton first team and the stats that show just how good he has been so far.
Playing levels above, a viral hat-trick, then to Chelsea and back
Born in Exeter, Dibling has been on Southampton’s books, for the most part, since he was eight. He had already been playing for the club in the U18 Premier League – and even started to make inroads to the Premier League 2 – before his 16th birthday and earned his first international recognition with England U16s in December 2021.
He was introduced to the masses in April 2022 when a clip of him scoring a hat-trick at Newcastle’s St James’ Park went viral. It was no ordinary hat-trick – each one of his three strikes was as close to a carbon copy as it comes.
Before the 2021/22 season was out – one that he ended with an U18 Premier League South champions medal around his neck – Dibling earned a maiden first-team call-up for a trip to Brentford but, within a matter of weeks, had joined Chelsea, with a view to signing a professional deal after his 17th birthday in early 2023.
But he could not settle. In fact, after just two games, he returned to the south coast after discovering the grass was not, in fact, greener in the capital.
“Tyler was always going to struggle to adjust to living away from home, even in Southampton, if I’m being honest,” says former Saints B Team head coach – and current Bristol Rovers first-team coach – David Horseman, in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
“There’s probably other reasons, which I would be speculating on. I don’t want to comment on advice maybe he was getting. He chose to go and it didn’t quite work out.
“Chelsea have an amazing academy; my son was actually in it. It’s the most ruthless place because they have so many good players – maybe that just wasn’t right for Tyler at the time.
“That experience might be the making of him long-term because he probably realised how good he had it at Southampton and how much the club valued him.”
Dibling gets back on the right track – and quickly
Thankfully for both Dibling and Saints, the blip did not stunt his development.
But Horseman admits the question was asked about whether they should bring him back to the south coast before they did.
“Matt Hale [ex-Saints academy director] deserves the credit for bringing him back. There was some debate; we put him on the bench in the Premier League, we were playing him in the 21s and there weren’t many 15-year-olds playing in the 21s,” he continues.
“There were a few saying, for the culture, maybe don’t. But actually, the opinion of Matt, me and a few other people was, you want best with best.
“So if you look at the class of 92 or the Chelsea academy or the Man City academy, it’s best with best every day. You need as many good players as you can because they drag each other through.
“It took a little while when he came back because his ego was bruised and he probably wasn’t sure how the boys would receive him.
“But they were the best group of lads. To have Tyler with Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Jayden Meghoma and others was brilliant – the quality of training was so good.
“He came back in and he had to earn his stripes again with the U18s, which he took on the chin.”
The year 2023 was where everything started to get properly motoring for Dibling.
Less than one week after his 17th birthday in February, he signed his first professional contract; an 18-month deal running until the summer of 2025.
Two months later, he and his Southampton B team-mates were crowned Premier League 2 Division 2 champions.
Four months after that, in August, he was handed his senior debut by Martin. It was only five minutes at the end of a 3-1 defeat to Gillingham in the Carabao Cup, but it was a start.
The ‘beautiful footballer’ comes to the fore
Dibling featured in every one of Southampton’s seven pre-season friendlies and scored in a 3-1 behind-closed-doors win over Montpellier in Girona. It put him – and Amo-Ameyaw – in the shop window, but Martin set them a challenge.
“They have a chance to stake a claim,” he told the Daily Echo. “We have a lot of interest in both players, people want to take them on loan.
“But they have to prove that they’re better off staying here and it’s better for them to be here. The ball is completely in their court.”
Horseman says he was aiming to bring Dibling on loan to Bristol Rovers, but a brief conversation with close friend and Saints first-team coach Carl Martin shut that idea down.
While Amo-Ameyaw’s involvement has been mostly limited to cup competitions, Dibling has been in the mix from the off.
Introduced after 84 minutes of the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on August 24, he was labelled Saints’ “biggest attacking threat” by Martin. He was handed a full Premier League debut on September 14 against Manchester United. Maybe it was the fearlessness of youth, but the occasion did not faze him.
Dibling forced Andre Onana to spring to his right to acrobatically push a shot away, after a mazy run in off the right, and then drew a foul from Diogo Dalot that resulted in a penalty.
Against Ipswich the week after, he scored his first professional goal as Saints picked up their first point. It was assisted by 36-year-old Adam Lallana – 17 years and 306 days his senior – which marked the biggest age gap between a Premier League scorer and provider since March 2006.
Martin has warned he does not want to increase the pressure on Dibling by talking up his talents – but he cannot help but wax lyrical about the teenager.
“He is a beautiful footballer, a really outstanding talent. He’s powerful. He possesses stuff that not every player possesses,” he said before the 5-3 Carabao Cup win over Cardiff, in which Dibling provided two assists.
After the Ipswich game, he added: “I love working with him. I love watching him play. I’d pay a lot of money to watch him play football.”
‘Saints’ attacking struggles keeping Dibling quiet’
Analysis by Sky Sports’ Dan Long:
Following Southampton’s return to the Premier League, I have been covering games at St Mary’s regularly this season and, since I first saw Dibling play, focusing in on him has become arguably the thing I look forward to most ahead of a trip to the south coast.
I am ashamed to admit he had not been on my radar prior to this season, but I am so glad he is now.
He shows no fear as he skilfully and menacingly strides down that right-hand side. His physical presence means he is not bullied off the ball easily. He is the talk of the press room and the fans both inside the ground and online.
It is just a shame he is playing in a team that cannot catch a break at the moment, with the possession-based style Martin has become synonymous with failing to work as it did so brilliantly in the Championship last season. The graphics below goes some way to illustrating that.
Saints are the joint-lowest scorers in the top four divisions of English football, alongside Cardiff.
Dibling’s talent is there for everyone to see, it is just that the attacking struggles are keeping him from truly coming out into the spotlight.
Maybe that is music to the ears of some fans worried he could leave, but then again, surely staying in the Premier League will give them a much better chance of holding onto him. Though after his fleeting experience at Chelsea, is it best for him to stay put anyway?
Thankfully for Saints, it is a question that does not need to be answered until the January transfer window opens – at the very earliest.