Tyler Dibling has revealed he has been the butt of plenty of dressing room banter since Southampton slapped a reported nine-figure price tag on his back, with Manchester United keen on a summer deal
Southampton teen sensation Tyler Dibling is a £100million target for Manchester United, City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Bayern Munich and… Aaron Ramsdale. Saints hottest property revealed he has been the butt of plenty of dressing room banter since the club slapped a reported nine-figure price tag on his back.
The quietly spoken 19-year-old is unfazed about the big numbers and speculation swirling around about his future. And his team-mates have made sure it has not gone to his head, especially Ramsdale who jokingly takes £10m off his evaluation any time he misses a shot in training.
Dibling said: “Yeah, Rambo loves it to be fair. There’s a few nicknames going around. It is all jokes. Nobody takes it seriously. It’s just a number. It’s all fun.
“I’ll miss a shot in training and Rambo will just go £90m or £80m as it goes down. It’s all good fun but I’m just trying to practice every day and to get better.
“I try not to think about it all. I just try to go into training every day and work hard and train the best I can. At the end of the day, I love Southampton.
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“I have been here since I was eight. It is such a great team and I am working to do big things with them.” Dibling was expecting Ramsdale to announce another reduction in his value on the bus home after missing a golden chance to equalise at West Ham after coming on as a second-half sub.
It’s the sort of miss that will be noted by the circling ‘big’ clubs as they decide if Dibling really is a £100m talent ready to perform in a side chasing trophies. No doubt his 3.5 dribbles per game with 1.5 successful dribbles have caught the eye in his breakout season.
But his two Premier League goals have come from 28 shots. Saturday’s failure to hit the target with just keeper Alphonse Areola to beat was his 14th miss from inside 18 yards. On the plus side, Dibling was at least able to articulate a clear decision making process.
This was not a young player overawed by the moment. It was just bad execution with what is generally regarded as being his weaker foot. Dibling admitted: “I should have scored.
“I tried to go high because I saw the keeper coming. It was with my right foot and it just went a bit too high but hopefully I get the next one.” It looked as if West Ham were going to record a much-needed win when Niclas Fullkrug fed Jarrod Bowen to curl a shot past Ramsdale on 47 minutes.
Luckily for Dibling, Chelsea loanee Lesley Ugochukwu smashed home his first Premier League goal in injury time to lift Southampton up to 11 points.
They are now level with Derby’s tally for the worst season in Premier League history, with five games to play. And Dibling admitted surpassing that mark is a huge motivation for the already relegated Saints.
He said: “Obviously, nobody wants to be the worst team in the history of the league. I don’t want to be and none of the squad wants to be so that’s what we are trying to do, get a point, get a couple more points so we don’t have that title above our heads.”
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