‘World-class talent': how Tyler Dibling rose to be a shining light in Saints' gloom

The Guardian

25-02-2025

The mannequins stood no chance. After a two-hour drive from Wiltshire, Jeremy Newton would arrive at Axe Valley Academy in Devon on Friday afternoons, unload his car and furnish the school's 3G pitch for a one‑on‑one session. The Southampton academy coach would build in-game scenarios using props: cones, dummy opponents to recreate a back four or three‑man wall. An iPad would record the next hour, providing the opportunity to review footage, hone details. Once school was out, a 14‑year‑old at the start of his GCSEs would get to work on his fledgling career.
It is the reason why Tyler Dibling's signed No 7 shirt, from England Under-16s duty, greets visitors in the school's reception in Axminster. There has long been chatter about Dibling's talent. At 15 he played for Southampton Under‑21s and a couple of months after turning 16 he scored a hat‑trick of near-identical goals against Newcastle Under-21s at St James' Park which catapulted him on to the radar of the elite, and into public consciousness. Gary Lineker posted the eyes emoji when sharing the viral clip of Dibling's goals from the edge of the D.
'The reaction to the hat-trick was crazy,' Dibling says. 'My dad drove up from Devon to watch that game so it was worth it and a great memory.' Dibling had joined Southampton aged eight, spending time at development centres in Yeovil and Bath, part of the club's strategy to 'pin down the south' under the then academy manager, Matt Hale. Dibling would sleep in his father Sam's car en route to training on Tuesday evenings, stay overnight and spend Wednesday there on a day‑release programme. 'One of my best friends who didn't go to my school didn't realise how good I was … I just had a normal school life.'
Dibling has since been to Chelsea and back and emerged as Southampton's beacon of light in a season of struggle, Stamford Bridge the next stop on Tuesday. In September, on his first Premier League start, he destroyed Manchester United's Diogo Dalot to win a penalty, aged 18, having earlier forced André Onana into a superb save. Before the game he was so nervous that he struggled to eat and standing next to Marcus Rashford in the tunnel he felt as if he was playing The Journey, the first-person mode in the Fifa video game. The following week he scored against Ipswich.
Dibling has made a habit of eliminating defenders with fearless dribbling and direct running. He is the joint-10th most-fouled player in the division this season, though of the players to have been fouled more, only Bruno Guimarães, James Maddison and Jordan Ayew have been fouled more per minute.
It is a similar story on international duty. Dibling made his England Under-21 debut in November and Russell Martin, who gave Dibling his Southampton debut, believes he will evolve into a senior England regular. Ryan Garry, his former England Under-17 coach, recalls Dibling regularly catching the eye in a group which included the Arsenal duo Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
'The foul count against, especially in youth football, can be a good indicator of what issues they are causing,' Garry says. 'Tyler, Ethan and Myles were often the most-fouled players in our games.'
Dibling, 19 last week, is arguably the most exciting young English player. Only Dean Huijsen and Kobbie Mainoo have played more in the top flight this season as teenagers. Dibling joined Chelsea, the team he supported, two and a half years ago but returned a month later having struggled to settle. After playing for Chelsea in an under-18s draw at Southampton, he confided in Newton that he wanted to come back. 'Tyler broke down and just said: 'I've a made a mistake, I don't enjoy it,'' Newton says. 'This was a Saturday and the transfer deadline closed the following Friday, so there was work to do.'
Dibling has drawn comparisons to Jack Grealish because he wears his socks low but the pair are contrasting personalities with different paths. At 19 Grealish was fresh from a loan at Notts County and yet to make a Premier League start. Dibling's off-the-cuff style is languid, reminiscent of the Southampton great Matt Le Tissier, but he is rangy and powerful. Dibling is an introvert but a different animal on the pitch. 'A lovely contrast,' Garry says. His character keeps him grounded. 'I see it as his greatest strength because he is unbelievably consistent,' Southampton's academy manager, Andy Goldie, says.
On his first-team debut at Gillingham in the Carabao Cup two years ago, Dibling's socks were unusually high, at the behest of Jason Wilcox, Southampton's then director of football. 'He's always looked a bit scruffy,' Hale says, laughing, 'but when he's that good you don't mind. We had a thing that until you're 16, you tuck your shirt in, pull your socks up, look smart and then when you get your professional contract and you start playing in the first team you can do what you want. We had to keep on top of Tyler a little bit.'
As a five-year-old, Dibling represented Millwey Rise, coached by his father, who plays for Axminster Town reserves with Dibling's elder brother, Owen. He then joined the pre-academy at Exeter City. 'My dad emailed hundreds of times asking for Southampton to come and see me,' he says, and it worked, with Saints scouting Dibling at an under-sevens tournament. 'They were so much fun. The Exeter City academy boys refereed it, so Ethan Ampadu reffed one of my games.'
Dibling has impressed wide but the consensus is he is most dangerous as a No 10. 'I don't think you see many central players who can pick up the ball in deeper areas, back to goal, and turn the way he does,' Goldie says. 'Players in those positions tend to pass – and too often sideways. He catches the eye because he gets the ball and his first thought is: 'How quickly can I get to the goal?' He has scored a few – that part of his game will continue to develop – and once that bit has really clicked you're talking about a world-class talent.'
One of Dibling's super-strengths, as Goldie puts it, is ball-carrying. 'He had an incredible drive to get better and a practise mentality, the kind Beckham and Cantona have talked about, that you don't see too much in today's game,' Hale says.
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'Tyler would practise at home in his front room, before school, in the garage, in the garden; he always wanted a ball at his feet. We put a lot of emphasis on ball mastery and starting every single session with a ball each, dribbling, changing direction. Their homework, we almost say, is to get 3,000 touches of the ball every day.'
During Covid, Dibling sent videos to his coaches. 'I would be in my little back yard,' he says. 'My dad set up a goal, cones in the corners and I'd be dribbling around them trying to shoot.' In PE lessons, Dibling would drag smaller goals in front of full-size ones to practise free-kicks, recalls his then teacher, Jack Ward.
'Myself and my friends would make it so we only had the corners to aim for and practise for ages,' says Dibling, who lives with Will Merry, another teenage Saints forward, and a former schoolmate. At school Dibling had a Nike sponsorship and gave lots of garments to his best friend, Lewis, who did not have as much as a youngster. 'Ty used to joke: 'Do you want a pair of boots, sir?'' Ward says. 'Looking back, I wish I'd said yes.'
Dibling's single‑mindedness was apparent. 'I had conversations with him where it was: 'What's the plan if it doesn't work?'' Ward says. 'He was like: 'I don't have one, this is it.''
At times tough love was required. Martin sent Dibling in early from training on a few occasions last season because it was felt he was not maximising himself. Martin made clear to Wilcox he felt Dibling was the club's best talent but bad habits, perhaps from being the outstanding player in youth matches, had to be ironed out. Last season under-21s staff trained a camera on Dibling to improve his awareness, the clips analysed together. Last summer League Two clubs interested in loaning him voiced reservations about his defensive work, a theory that has not aged well.
Martin trusted him to thrive. Dibling shone in pre-season and has single-handedly eclipsed the club target of academy players getting 1,000 senior minutes in this campaign. In one session Charlie Taylor bounced off Dibling and ended on his backside. Memorable moments continue to arrive. Goldie references Dibling's second goal, when he started and finished a move at Crystal Palace, tucking in from a couple of yards out.
'It showed evolution in his game, populating the box, picking up the second ball and putting it away,' Goldie says. At Arsenal he clipped the post with a shot but another phase sticks out. 'Tyler tracked back all the way with [Riccardo] Calafiori, who broke down the wing, and he caught up with him through real work ethic, grit and determination. I think that was a really big moment where the penny dropped around how hard he has to work defensively.'
Now some of the world's biggest clubs are taking note. 'At the start of the season I had so much confidence it felt like nobody could stop me,' Dibling says. 'The most surreal moment was scoring against Ipswich. You can see from my celebration that it meant so much. My friends were there, Lewis was there. Scoring in the Premier League just felt crazy.'