Manchester United have had many near misses when it comes to spotting young talent, but they may be on the verge of repeating their previous mistakes by missing out on Tyler Dibling
Manchester United may regret missing out on another young English talent, as Southampton’s Tyler Dibling is attracting interest domestically and abroad now.
Despite the Saints’ struggles since their return to the Premier League, 18-year-old Dibling has been a shining light with his energetic performances and direct style of play. He was particularly impressive at Old Trafford, where Southampton led for the majority of the match before a late Amad Diallo hat-trick rescued them.
United reportedly recently had a £21million bid for the England U21s star swiftly turned down by the South Coast side. Now, it seems Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and RB Leipzig are all circling.
If United fail to land him, they could face a similar situation to what they experienced with the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham.
United attempted to sign Bellingham when he was a 16-year-old prodigy at Birmingham City, but Borussia Dortmund won that particular transfer battle. When Bellingham later sought a bigger challenge, his price tag proved too steep for United, who could only watch as he joined Real Madrid in an £88.5million deal.
The case with Sancho was different, as Dortmund snapped him up while he was still part of Manchester City’s youth set-up. Yet, United would have been aware of his talent and potential at City and their failure to take a chance on him as a youngster resulted in him moving to Dortmund for £10m.
United would go on to sign him from the Bundesliga giants for £73m four years later. The pressure of the price-tag and a falling out with Erik ten Hag resulted in Sancho failing at Old Trafford and being loaned back to Dortmund, before coming back to the UK to join Chelsea, where he is impressing more so than he did at United.
The price tag for young English talents has skyrocketed since the days of Sancho and Bellingham, largely due to the homegrown quota rules. Southampton have reportedly slapped a £55m price tag on Dibling, but with the Premier League’s bottom side likely facing relegation, there could yet be room for negotiation.
However, according to the Mail, Dibling has responded to the interest around him by making it clear to his representatives that he would be interested in playing abroad, which could pose a threat to United’s plans.
With the Red Devils on the hunt for additional firepower in the wide areas, they have also been linked with Dortmund forward Jamie Gittens as an alternative.
They’re open to letting Antony and Alejandro Garnacho leave, amid links to Real Betis and Napoli respectively, while Chelsea are also eyeing the latter. With energy and speed lacking at United this season, and with the potential departures of the aforementioned duo and the impending exit of Marcus Rashford, it’s clear that the club will need to bolster their wide areas.
United head coach Ruben Amorim has made it clear that the team is poised to make moves in the transfer market, as he announced earlier this month. At the start of January, the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss said: “Of course, when the window is open we can try to do something and we will try to do something.
“But in the next weeks we are going to have more time to train and we have to improve. That’s the only way because we had a lot of games without training.
“Now we will have more space to grow. You can see the context is worse in the moment because we had a lot of losses, we have to manage everything. The solution is to work hard.”
The official programme cover for Manchester United v Rangers has been revealed, and it is paying tribute to ‘The King’, Denis Law. As well as the cover, there will be special features inside dedicated to the Manchester United and Scotland legend. Copies will be available at Old Trafford on matchday or online.
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