The Blues had three bids for the teenager rejected earlier this month
Tyler Dibling during the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park on the final day of last season. Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images
Tyler Dibling during the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park on the final day of last season. Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images
Everton are back in talks with Southampton over a deal for Tyler Dibling. The Blues had three bids rejected for the teenager earlier this month, the final offer for a package worth around £37.5m.
The club walked away from discussions after that was turned down but remained open to a resumption in negotiations if the Saints showed willingness to compromise.
That now appears to have happened, with the clubs appearing close to a breakthrough and Everton hopeful the 19-year-old will become David Moyes’ eighth signing of the summer.
Moyes had cut a frustrated figure as he spoke to the press ahead of the club’s historic first competitive game at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
With key players including Vitalii Mykolenko and Jarrad Branthwaite both ruled out of the Brighton game, he was set to face a similar selection challenge to the one endured at Leeds United on Monday, when Everton fell to a disappointing season-opening defeat.
Chief among Moyes’ concerns has been concerns over firepower but success in the pursuit of Dibling would go some way to solving his lack of options on the right wing.
That position has been a priority area for the club all summer - one in which they have suffered a number of setbacks.
Dibling looked set to be another when he was re-integrated into the Saints’ squad at the weekend having initially been left out amid the interest from the Blues but there is now new-found optimism a deal can be reached.