Man City ‘ready a bid’ for £100m-rated Prem star, but won’t pay ‘anything close’ to asking price

Manchester City are reportedly readying a bid for breakout Southampton star Tyler Dibling, but it won’t be ‘anything close’ to the £100million the Saints are demanding.

Dibling is currently one of the most impressive youngsters in the Premier League. No teenager has more successful dribbles than the fearless 19-year-old, who’s drawn comparisons to Jack Grealish.

Grealish’s current club, Man City, have been heavily linked with the attacker of late. Dibling has been on the radar of Tottenham for a while, and after they were quoted £50-60million in January, Southampton’s demand for Dibling has now rocketed to £100million.

City have entered the race later, but don’t care to entertain Saints’ valuation.

Indeed, Football Insider reports the Premier League champions are ‘readying a bid to sign him’ but have ‘no plans to pay anything close’ to nine figures.

Instead, the report states a £50million or £60million price tag is ‘much more realistic’.

Dibling has played as an attacking-midfielder at times this season, so with Kevin De Bruyne announcing he’s to leave City, the Saints man could take his place if he’s to sign at the Etihad.

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Saints won’t make close to £100m

Football finance expert Stefan Borson has stated that Southampton absolutely won’t make £100million from Dibling.

“There are lots of things you can say are unlikely, but I think this is literally zero chance that anybody’s paying £100million for Dibling. I think they’d be lucky to get £50million,” he told Football Insider.

“Not because he’s not a good player, he does look like a very good player and a very good prospect, but it’s just not the real world.

“I don’t know where people think the money’s coming from. The teams have been quite restrained at the moment, and there’s literally no chance anybody’s paying £100million.”

But the point of Southampton setting their stall so high is not that they want £100million, it’s that they’d be willing to take it if they were to lose a player they want to keep. It’s a deterrent for big clubs rather than an actual asking price, given they don’t have to sell.

That said, TEAMtalk sources have stated £60million would be hard for Saints to turn down. But if they set the price there, they could be lowballed. At least setting their stall so high, if people lowball them, they’re set to make a bigger fee.

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A report has stated that City are ‘confident’ they’ll avoid a transfer ban and the stripping of their silverware, with an investigation still going on into their finances.

There could be big change at the Etihad in the summer anyway, though, with as many as 10 City players reported to be involved in an exodus.

De Bruyne, who is on the list, has already confirmed his exit, but he’s joined on it by the likes of John Stones, Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Ederson, among others.

One of those players, Silva, is said to be a target of Real Madrid, and if a ‘reasonable’ transfer fee is requested by the Citizens, Los Blancos will go after him.

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