Tyler Dibling – Everton’s Fledgeling Talent Still Searching for His Wings
Perhaps weighed down by a huge transfer fee and expectation to match, the teenager has endured a rocky start to life with the Blues but, right now, the starlet tipped for future England greatness needs support not doubters
Age is just a number, as the saying goes. Sometimes it applies in football, sometimes it doesn’t.
The way Wayne Rooney tells it, even as a raw teenager he felt he was as good as — if not better than — any of the contemporary Everton players when he rocked up at Bellefield and he approached training with the first team with that bullish self-confidence. The boxer’s son from Croxteth was a special breed, of course; a precocious talent with a man’s physique well before he reached adulthood and an attitude to match.
Players with his natural ability, physical attributes and self-assurance at such a young age don’t come around all that often. Back then, David Moyes did his best to try and bring the starlet on gradually but there was only so long he could keep under wraps a player champing at the bit to get his career started.
Ever the arch pragmatist, Moyes has, on the whole, been reluctant to blood youngsters too early. As he is often at pains to stress, the likes of Leighton Baines, Leon Osman and Seamus Coleman had to bide their time at Goodison Park or cut their teeth on loan in the second tier before he deemed them ready for regular first-team action.
Again, Rooney was a special case and a salient example of the horses-for-courses nature of player development and how age and maturity isn’t always the measure of readiness for the top level. Everyone is different and though they vary in age, three of Everton’s summer signings illustrate the contrasts in personality types that can dictate how quickly a player can bed in.
Thierno Barry and Crystal Palace’s own 2025 close season recruit from Villarreal, Jeremy Pino, were born a day apart in 2002. One took to the Premier League from day one, seemingly as though he had been playing in England for years. The other has taken many months, the odd exhibition of petulance, and plenty of hard work and patience to start proving his doubters wrong.
With four in his last five games, the goals have finally started to flow for 23-year-old Barry and in a team struggling to create chances, he is efficiency personified. It’s been quite the transformation. You could attribute it to Moyes’s patience but given Beto’s struggles this season, the manager didn’t have much choice other than to persevere with his £27m French recruit.
For his part, Merlin Röhl has had to work his way through injury problems and hernia surgery while also having many question the wisdom of Everton committing £20m to acquiring him when the current campaign ends.
The Freiburg loanee is also 23 but unlike Barry, who brought a sizeable entourage with him from France, he came to the UK alone. However, as his recent interviews on club channels reveal, he has a calm, grounded self-confidence that will serve him well as he navigates his first season in the Premier League.
Though his performances have been erratic, a product of the stop-start nature of his introduction to English football, lately he has shown flashes of the talent that has drawn comparisons with Bayern Munich star, Leon Goretzka.
Then there is Tyler Dibling, a high-profile acquisition who, thus far, looks every inch the teenager far from his Exeter roots and weighed down by the initial £35m fee it took to pry him away from Southampton. Even though he was said to have pushed to join the Toffees, given that he returned to Saints from Chelsea as a homesick 16-year-old without ever reaching the point of a professional contract he had been promised by the London club, there was always a risk that he would take time to settle on Merseyside, and that appears to have been the case.
Dibling is, of course, three years older now than when he left for Cobham and with a full season in the Premier League under his belt, albeit at a side that was destined for relegation last year. He played 33 times in the top flight for Southampton, scoring twice to augment his reputation as one of the brightest young talents in the country.
However, the dynamism and fearlessness that characterised his first few months in the top flight ebbed away over the second half of 2024/25 and it has been wholly absent in his fleeting appearances for Everton. To date, the 19-year-old has largely looked lost in blue, devoid of confidence and displaying little of the directness and willingness to drive forward with the ball that his Southampton highlights reels suggested the Toffees would be getting.
Former Saints and Rangers boss, Russell Martin’s recent resumé might make some take his opinion with a pinch of salt but he had this to say about his former protégé on Gary Lineker’s The Rest Is Football podcast last year:
“I don’t want to make things more difficult for him but he’s the most talented player I’ve ever worked with. I worked with Jamie Maddison at the same age and Tyler has every capability to go and play for England and at the top level for a very long time.
“Because he’s powerful, he’s really quick, both feet, can shoot, bang-bang… he has something I’ve not seen in a British player for a very long time. To play in the middle of the park and be able to take the ball, swivel and go… he’ll play as a number 8 or a 10 eventually.”
The glimpses of promise he displayed at Burnley in late December, where he came close to an assist and might, on another day with a referee other than Craig Pawson, have won his team a penalty, were exciting but were an exception. At Bramley-Moore Dock, in particular, he seems to have shrunk under the burden of expectation, although the rotating cast of right-backs and midfielders around him hasn't always been conducive to getting his bearings.
You watch him and every fibre of your being is willing him to “just put your head down and run at them, kid”. It’s what defenders hate more than anything but so much of what he has done has been tentative and reeks of fear.
Dibling is described as quiet and reserved which could explain plenty but without knowing the ins and outs of his levels in training, his rapport with the rest of the squad and, most importantly, his relationship with Moyes, it’s impossible to know what’s stopping the teenager from coming out of his shell at Everton.
His manager is notoriously intense and can be a demanding task master. Meanwhile, Hill Dickinson Stadium holds 20,000 more people than St Mary’s Stadium so is it stage fright or a fear of making mistakes that’s holding him back? With just three League starts and two unproductive outings in the cups, is it a lack of consistent minutes and rhythm?
Or does the apparent continuation of the less impressive form in his last few months at Southampton point to something else? Perhaps, the need for an arm around the shoulder and someone to continually drum into him the belief in his own abilities, because his dip if form on the south coast seemed to coincide with Martin’s dismissal as Saints manager in December 2024.
Whatever the reasons for his current struggles, it is incumbent on Moyes and his staff to get the bottom of them as quickly as possible so that they can nurture their expensively-acquired young asset. Just as important, the more impatient elements in Everton’s fanbase have to give him the time to settle rather than simply writing him off as some have been quick to do with both Barry and Röhl.
As Martin’s description attests, the lad has undoubted talent but it clearly needs a particularly sensitive and individualised approach to draw it back out of him.
Indeed, Tyler’s dad, Sam, explained last August: “I can’t praise Russell enough. He has been amazing for Ty. They’re very close and he still talks to Ty and helps him which is nice.
“Russell because he was really hard on him but loved him at the same time. Ty looks like quite a casual player on the pitch. He’s got lots of ability but Russell pushed him and that was key for Ty. He’s learning all the time.”
Put him in front of videos of his contemporaries like Mateus Mane at Wolves (18), Rio Ngumoha up the road at Anfield (17), or even his Everton team-mate Harrison Armstrong (just turned 19) and you could impress on him the fact that age can just be a number if you have the right attitude and determination.
Someone like skipper Seamus Coleman could surely convince him that Evertonians will forgive errors if the desire and tenacity is there. And while he is played out wide and charged with taking players on, he should know that the life of a winger is that not everything you try is going to come off. But if you don’t try anything at all, nothing ever will.
Moyes would, no doubt, be the first to say that Tyler has plenty of time on his side — even if you worry about the damage being done to his confidence in the meantime. As such, his development might not have been a priority for this season; rather, the Scot might be regarding the 19-year-old as a longer-term project who could spend the season acclimatising to Merseyside, even if the shallow depth of the Blues’ squad meant that it was always likely he would be needed.
Unfortunately, when the time came, a lack of minutes earlier in the campaign when Moyes was reluctant to risk losing points by putting too much pressure on youth meant that Dibling looked ill-prepared. Now, though, while relegation isn’t a danger on the one hand, Everton’s faltering home form is keeping any hope of sneaking into Europe tantalisingly out of reach on the other and the more experienced Dwight McNeil badly underperforms ahead of him in the pecking order, surely the time has come to give young Dibling more minutes on a weekly basis.
Just like Barry, who has endured tremendous frustration and some seriously unhelpful messages on social media from supposed “fans” of his own club, Dibling will only ever get better and start to demonstrate why Everton were prepared to commit as much as £40m to signing him by playing regularly. (Incidentally, someone should tell him to forget about the size of that fee as it, too, is just a number.)
At age 19, Jack Grealish and David Beckham, for examples, were afforded the time to develop into the stars they became for Aston Villa and Manchester United on loan at Notts County and Preston North End respectively. Armstrong has had the same benefit at Derby County and Deepdale at a similar stage of his development. With Everton’s squad as thin as it is, Tyler won’t get that luxury this season, so it will need to be in the Premier League where he re-discovers his mojo, with everybody connected to the club firmly behind him.
If all goes well, his current travails will eventually be just a distant memory, the product of a teenage lad who just needed more time than most to get to grips with a new life in the North West.
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers28/01/2026 22:09:13
He's not a winger. Moyes has to stop pretending he is. He's being played out of position in a team with too many players unconditionally the ball. He'll come good if we're all patient enough.
28/01/2026 23:01:26
A timely article Lyndon, reminding us all that patience is required. I made a point of watching Tyler in the final match at Goodison. I thought he showed a lot of promise and that, at the right price, he would be a decent acquisition for the future.
He has looked more comfortable in recent away matches, notably at Forest and Burnley, but it has been frustrating to see him freeze in his handful of home appearances. It is unfortunate that in the majority of matches we have at best held only a narrow lead or worse been chasing the game under pressure. Thus there has been little opportunity to give him minutes in a team playing relaxed, confident football.
It is also regrettable that in his few games at home, most notably against Sunderland, he appeared to have nobody around him giving him support, in other words a partner. Who was his ‘mate’ on the pitch? Effective partnerships are a fundamental part of any successful team. I think Tyler’s confidence will build once he can establish an understanding with a team mate(s).
I have heard more than a few people writing him off. I think that is ridiculously premature. Most certainly he needs our support and patience when his dribbles don’t come off. Meanwhile I remain hopeful he will play a big role in a successful Everton team of the future.
28/01/2026 23:17:21
Although I would have hoped to see more from Dibling with his limited opportunities I’m not quite sure why there has been such high expectation of him this season. I always felt he was bought with the future in mind and this season was more about his development at the club, especially as we had Grealish and Ndiaye as starters in the wide positions this season and McNeil would have been expected to be next in line.
29/01/2026 10:30:22
I think he was one of several players bought (by the committee, rather than Moyes himself) with 2026-27 and 27-28 in mind rather than 2025-26.
While acknowledging this could well turn out to be the right strategy, some of us would have liked a bit more emphasis on signing more experienced players for this season.
After decades without a trophy or a title challenge, it is perhaps unsurprising that many Evertonians are short on patience, with the team and with individuals.
But some players take longer than others to settle in.
I have no doubt that there is a great player in Dibling. It would probably make a great difference to his development if he had ten successive starts.
29/01/2026 10:56:27
Mike @ 5, I agree that he was brought in as one for the future but Moyes needs to play his part with his development by managing his game time better.
29/01/2026 12:35:49
There are 19 year olds who exude confidence beyond their years and there are 19 year olds like Dibling who have the skills and potential but need their self-confidence building up, by themselves and those around them. Was he what we were crying out for last summer as a player to boss the right hand side, delivering pinpoint crosses for Barry? No, and that’s on the club, but for £40 million the onus is now on the club to instil self-belief over a couple of seasons. Looks like he’s going to have to do it the hard way with cameos here and there. At Southampton he played deeper and was superb at rounding players and playing on the break, that’s not what he’s tasked with doing now, beating two players and getting crosses in. I still think we’ll be banging on about next season. In a good way.
29/01/2026 13:50:18
Just needs time and space. Hes got an intelligent football brain, seen glimpses of his vision already which is a rare gift. No doubt that he’ll eventually be a success but does need a boost of confidence somehow.
29/01/2026 14:00:26
Most of the time, Tyler is receiving the ball in a very difficult position, out wide on the right wing, nowhere to go on the outside, two men closely defending the inside.
The main reason for this is that we have been playing Jake O’Brien at right back. Jake has qualities, but not as a rampaging full back. He wants to offload the ball when he approaches the final third of the pitch.
There have been a few better signs of an understanding between Dibling and Nathan Patterson.
Ideally, Dibling would be getting his game time for the remainder of the season in the final 30 minutes of matches when we are 3-0 up. If the rest of the team could provide him with a few such opportunities we may see the real player!
29/01/2026 17:16:59
I had high hopes for him and am not writing him off just yet.
I was at the Brentford game and the team were warming up in front of us and I made a point of watching him. I didn't see him speak to another Everton player during the whole warm up. The player that Russell Martin describes seems like a different Tyler Dibling to the one I've seen. He looks slow and lethargic. He can have quick feet but only when the opponent is touch-tight to him. If he has space to run into then he seems to lack the pace to get around his man. Too often, he almost stumbles into the opposing full back and then tumbles to the ground, claiming a free kick. That's when he does attack the full back; the majority of the time he rolls it back to the full back along the touchline with one touch or makes the easy pass inside. At the moment, he's looking more like a Stephen Hughes than an Andrei Kanchelskis.
As the article eludes to, he seems a quiet lad and playing for Everton would take a lot for a young lad to handle, especially at home. I wish he'd have shot in the Leeds game. A winning goal from there could have made all the difference. Opportunities like that don't come around and it'll play on his mind. From what I've seen, he needs to go out on loan and learn his trade, much like Armstrong did.
29/01/2026 17:53:37
Clearly a highly talented individual, but he has got to learn to apply himself.
Shyness wont get him through this Challenging start, but its important to remember he has only played about five hours of football since he got here.
like Andy, I so wish he would have shot when he was through on goal against Leeds. A winner at that stage would have made the world of difference to his confidence
29/01/2026 21:25:17
He needs to let his hair down and relax, he’s clearly talented, reminds me of Grealish, he needs to show a bit of emotion! Look what it’s done for Barry, he hardly smiled when he first arrived and now look at him go, even when he was missing chances you could tell he was invested.
Moyes hasn’t really given him a vote of confidence preferring McNeil, Dibling needs a solid right back who he can build chemistry with, which obviously it’s hard to build chemistry when it’s always being changed, when we finally get someone who nails down that RB spot Dibling will be much more at home, preferably a right back with pace as I’m not sold on Patterson.
29/01/2026 21:27:45
A very good article Lyndon. I didn’t watch Dibling, much last season, but when he was pointed out to me in the final game at Goodison, I liked what I saw.
He didn’t really have that good of a game, but he looked quite spiky and it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
He doesn’t look like he’s been playing with as much effort since he’s joined Everton, but you can see the kid has got loads of ability, even if he hasn’t shown us that much of it yet.
My own opinion is that he needs both runners and movement ahead of him, and he also possibly needs to go and play inside like his mentor Russell Martin and Paul T, both suggest.
There’s only one problem though, because wherever he plays, he needs to start playing with energy, and this is not something he his currently doing.
30/01/2026 08:09:43
There is definitely a good player in him, possibly a great one.
Given a run in the team, some good luck, a good performance or two, an arm around his shoulder and some “we believe in you” conversations, he could be fantastic for us.
Dare I say, we have already spent the £ on him, and do we need to spend goodness knows how much on Grealish, if Dibling clicks?
Will Dibling need to replace Ndiaye if he there are big money bids for him ?
30/01/2026 09:20:30
Nice to read a number of letters of support for young Dibling, as he has really looked out of sorts since his arrival. He clearly needs to be playing more football and hopefully this will come between now and the end of the season. In theory he has all the talents to make him a big star and a fan favourite, but he just needs to show more effort to get us all up and behind him.
On a silly fashion note, he seems to favour the socks around your ankle look, with little or no protection from your shin guards. Why do modern players do that ? And why do Managers and Trainers allow it ? It just seems daft to me.
30/01/2026 10:09:08
Dibling reminds be a bit of Trevor Steven when he first arrived at Goodison.
Six months on from first joining Steven started to have an impact and never looked back.
I'm pretty sure with a bit more confidence and plenty of hard work Tyler will prove just how good he is.
31/01/2026 09:29:40
Players like Dibling are the future at Everton. TFG have spent money on such players.They are not going to spend money on players that Moyes wants to sit comfortably mid table.Moyes has been forced after dragging his heals, that he has to, develop and play such players.
The problem is not money to spending on players, the problem is the proper development and utilisation of the players Everton have and having them fit enough to play.
06/02/2026 14:20:14
Dibling's problems are echoed in the book The Smell of Football by Baz the former Everton and greatest physio when he was a player and manager. He was terrified when he was picked to play for the first team.
06/02/2026 15:57:57
As I recall, Harry, the issue for Baz Rathbone was that he was a boyhood Birmingham City supporter & not only felt enormous pressure due to not wanting to let down his family & friends in the stands, but was completely over-awed by the prospect of being on the pitch alongside his absolute hero, Trevor Francis. In the end, he needed to leave the club to have a successful career as a footballer, most notably at Blackburn Rovers.
I suspect Dibling just needs to settle into his new world & find his feet & then we'll see him come good. Hopefully, he'll establish himself next season & then we can really see what the Club spent all that money on.
07/02/2026 13:14:56
I think Moyes's latest comments were very revealing about Tyler. It felt suddenly like he's pretty close to a final warning. I had been thinking that him not getting too many games wasn't out of the ordinary given the players in front of him, but it seems Moyes is wanting to send a pretty clear message to him that his current efforts have not met the standard. You'd have to think that if there is not an improvement he'll be moved on at season end.
07/02/2026 18:25:00
Has you well know Kevin, a player can have all the talent in the world but if he doesn’t want to get his head down and work then he’s not going to fulfill his potential.
I’ve felt sorry for him at times, frustrated and looking unsure of what he’s supposed to be doing defensively, but I haven’t felt sorry for him often because he just hasn’t worked hard enough to get me onside.
07/02/2026 19:22:46
Tony yes agreed. His 'vibe' is wrong. But there is defo a player in there. in hindsight, a mate of mine who is a soton fan warned me about him when I was raving about him having seen his YouTube. told me that was all from the first three months when Russell was blowing smoke up his arse, and once the new manager came in he effectively started sulking.
07/02/2026 19:33:51
Nothing worse than a sulker, football is hard enough without having people moaning, rather than them playing for the team and just getting on with the job.
Most moaners get angry or emotional when things aren’t going their own way though, and I don’t think we have seen anything like this from Tyler Dibling, so far?
Hopefully seeing his mate George, coming in and playing with energy, spurs him on because like you say Kevin, it definitely looks like he’s got a lot of natural ability.
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28/01/2026 19:32:56
I think there are certain positions which are easier to play when you're a kid. up front for instance, I think if you just run around you can be useful. or fullback, you've just got to stop your man. I think winger is much harder, there's a lot you've got to get right. Positionally, support defensively, and then making something happen when you're on the ball As a teenager, I've seen nothing that concerns me about him. I think his talent is obvious, we just need to be patient. His game will come on a lot also when he's playing with an attacking fullback, and when Barry has settled in properly.