As far as Tim Steidten is concerned, amid links with West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Premier League champions Liverpool, Tyler Dibling has already moved well beyond the Bundesliga.
The German talentspotter worked as a scout for both Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen before beginning a 19 month spell at the London Stadium during the summer of 2023.
Tim Steidten, then, is better placed than most to highlight the growing financial gulf between the Premier League and the Bundesliga.
A case in point; Footballing powerhouses and six-time European champions Bayern Munich have only ever spent more than £40 million on seven players throughout their history. West Ham United, meanwhile, splashed out £40 million bringing Max Kilman to East London from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Now, if Southampton get their way, £40 million would be enough only to secure Tyler Dibling’s weaker right boot.
Reports suggest that Southampton want around £60 million for Tyler Dibling. And, while some pundits have suggested that Dibling would be better off at West Ham than taking up a supporting role at a Champions League club, reported interest from the likes of Liverpool is just one reason why a move to the Rush Green feels highly unlikely at this stage.
Tim Steidten makes Tyler Dibling prediction as West Ham United eye Southampton starlet
Hammers News understands that both Graham Potter and Kyle Macaulay are aligned on Tyler Dibling. The manager shares the latter’s enthusiasm for the 19-year-old forward, while West Ham’s head of recruitment views Dibling as a potential replacement for Mohammed Kudus.
The man who had a major say over recruitment before Macaulay’s arrival, meanwhile, is a fully paid-up member of the Dibling fan club himself.
“He’s an outstanding player, with that street-football mentality. That special dynamic,” Steidten tells Sky Germany. “He’s a player who can suddenly stop, turn on [the afterburners], and accelerate again.
“His first touch is outstanding. He has brutal potential. I think he’ll end up being too expensive for a German club.
“So I think he’ll move within England.”
Steidten left West Ham in February.
By that point, Southampton were already all-but relegated despite the occasional brilliance of their jet-heeled England Under-21 international.
Dion Dublin likes Dibling to Chelsea talisman Cole Palmer
Still a teenager, Dibling burst onto the scene with a mesmerising first-half performance against Manchester United in September.
A performance in which he bamboozled Diogo Dalot into giving away a spot-kick before Andre Onana’s denial of Cameron Archer laid the foundations for an eventual 3-0 Red Devils win at St Mary’s.
“Do you know what it is? I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but he plays his game like Cole Palmer, doesn’t he?,” former Aston Villa and Manchester United striker Dion Dublin told the BBC, comparing Dibling to the Chelsea talisman.
“He plays free and easy, and he gets himself into good positions, rolls players and takes the ball well.”
“It is the quality he has got. The belief in himself and the physical power,” agreed ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy. “He just goes past people with ease. He has got a lovely left foot. He is very brave on the ball and his decision-making is good.
“It is difficult to get too over the top with these young players, because he has just come on to the scene, but he is going to be something special.”
Dibling looks likely to become the next rising star to slip through West Ham’s fingers.
Tim Steidten confirms that he wanted Antonio Nusa at the London Stadium too, before the so-called ‘Norwegian Neymar’ swapped Club Brugge for RB Leipzig to the tune of £18 million a year ago.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
