Tyler Dibling was often described as the next Gareth Bale when he first emerged at Southampton.
But life isn’t easy when you’re compared with a five-time Champions League winner, and Dibling is now entering a make-or-break few months for his career at Everton.
It’s been a slow start to life for the 20-year-old at Bramley-Moore Dock, but there are growing signs he could finally be about to break out if he is given the chance.
Everton fans did not see much of Dibling last season following a £40m move which made him one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history in August 2025.
He has yet to start a Premier League game for them in this campaign either, spending no more than 24 minutes on the pitch in any of his three brief substitute appearances so far.
The England U21 winger has started all of their Carabao Cup games, creating the winner for Carlos Alcaraz against Wolves and showing glimpses of genuine quality.
“He deserves more chances,” says Peter McPartland, from the ToffeeTV YouTube channel.
“We’ve seen glimpses of him and everyone likes the look of what they see. He’s improved vastly and found loads of confidence. It was like a light bulb came on in pre-season and he started doing what we expected him to.
Dibling has been given minutes in the Carabao Cup (Photo: Getty)“He’s learning. It’s very rare that he gives the ball away and he doesn’t do the obvious. When he gets it right he makes it look effortless.”
A ball-carrier with a bag of tricks and real vision, Dibling’s attacking skills have never been in question. But to earn the trust of a manager like David Moyes, you have to learn the other side of the game too.
There was a moment in that Wolves win in September which suggested that too, may be coming.
Dibling had just played a killer through ball few players could even spot, let alone execute, for Brennan Johnson, whose shot was saved. Sensing danger as Wolves broke upfield, Dibling then sprinted back half the length of the pitch to make a goal-saving tackle.
“I think Moyes doesn’t trust him,” McPartland adds. “A big part of it must be what goes on in training. Is he not keeping those standards up? But when you see him do good things and then he’s left out the next game it must be really disheartening. I think there’s more to come from him.”
How Dibling is faring behind the scenes
There were suggestions last season that Dibling, an introvert, had struggled to settle in the north after moving away from his home on the south coast.
Yet sources close to the player told The i Paper that actually, he quickly felt at home on Merseyside – and that far from being homesick away from his family in Devon, he sees them as often as he did when he was with the Saints.
A bigger issue was the timing of his protracted move to Everton, coming after weeks of wrangling at the end of the summer transfer window and meaning he started his Blues career without a full pre-season.
This time around, he has benefited from a full training camp with Everton where he got a real opportunity to impress Moyes, a notoriously demanding coach.
Dibling has settled well on Merseyside (Photo: Reuters)Dibling was also leaving a Southampton side that had just been relegated, going through three managers in one season, for one where higher standards and greater consistency were being demanded.
Everton insiders say he has embraced that challenge and risen to it, working hard on his game over the summer and building his robustness. Dibling knows the club invested heavily in him and are expecting big things from him, and he is eager to deliver.
Moyes challenged him in May, saying: “We want Tyler to step up, we really do. He’s important to us. He’s a player who we put a lot of faith and money into to bring him here so we are looking for a lot more.”
Dibling must have thought his chance had come when Iliman Ndiaye left for Manchester City – but Everton then signed Johnson, who has since gone on to make five league starts and came on to score and assist in the 4-0 Carabao Cup win at Preston.
When Johnson’s form dipped, it wasn’t to Dibling that Moyes turned but to makeshift right-winger Merlin Rohl, whose loan move from Freiburg was made permanent in July.
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Everton: Moyes’ stance on Everton future revealed – and the latest on takeover talks Paul Brown: Jack Grealish’s career is at stake – he can’t let Everton down againYet Dibling is now pushing to face Coventry on Friday night. Jack Grealish is still in the doghouse for missing training and Rohl is an option to start at right-back, having also played twice in four days in the double-header against Newcastle.
It is understood Dibling had no issue with Everton signing Johnson or Rohl and that he welcomed the competition. He knows he needs to step up this season, and that he just needs more minutes to build his rhythm, form and confidence.
Everton still believe in him and he still believes in the club. Now it’s time to show he can still live up to the potential which once invited those Bale comparisons.
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