Man United face Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham repeat as £55m star 'drops hint'
Manchester United are at risk of watching an opportunity to sign Southampton wonderkid Tyler Dibling slip through their grasp.
While the Saints have endured a perilous return to the Premier League, 18-year-old attacking talent Dibling has been a rare positive. His energy, direct running and confidence – particularly at Old Trafford – has seen him become one of the country's breakout stars of recent months.
Last month, it was reported that United had a bid of £21million for the England U21s international swiftly rejected by the South Coast side. It's now understood the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and RB Leipzig are interested in him this month. If United are not able to sign him, then they will have the same issue as they had with Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham.
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When he was a 16-year-old prodigy at Birmingham City, United tried to pip Borussia Dortmund to Bellingham's signature. It was the Germans who emerged from that transfer battle victorious, though.
By the time Bellingham wanted a greater challenge, the England international's price-tag was too high for the Red Devils, who instead watched him join Real Madrid in an £88.5million deal.
The situation around Sancho was different, as Dortmund snapped him up when he was a youngster within the Manchester City youth set-up.
Yet, United would have been aware of his talent and potential at City and their inability to react to their knowledge saw Dortmund sign him for £10m, before selling him to United for £73m four years later. Teenage English talents come at an even higher price nowadays than they did when Sancho and Bellingham were teenagers, largely due to squad's having to obey the homegrown quote rules.
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It's understood that Southampton have now put a £55m price tag on Dibling, but with the Premier League's bottom side almost certainly facing relegation, this fee could yet potentially be negotiated down. But according to the Mail, Dibling has hinted that he is intrigued by the prospect of playing abroad, which is a danger for United.
United are looking for extra firepower in the wide areas and have been linked with Dortmund forward Jamie Gittens. They are also reportedly willing to allow Antony and Alejandro Garnacho to depart, amid links to Real Betis and Napoli respectively, while Chelsea are also looking at the latter.
Energy and speed has been in short supply at United this season and the potential exits of the aforementioned duo, and Marcus Rashford impending exit suggests the club will definitely need reinforcements in the wide areas.
At the start of the month, United head coach Ruben Amorim said United would look to conduct some business this month. The Portuguese 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.