Russell Martin will hope, regardless of the difficult Premier League fixtures his side will face this season, that he can give some Southampton youngsters moments to shine across the campaign.
Southampton have an ongoing reputation, of course, for producing some exceptional talents through their youth system, with the likes of Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale from yesteryear starting their footballing educations off at St. Mary’s, before exploding into life more in North London.
Alongside those esteemed names, the Saints will also be very proud of what they managed to get out of James Ward-Prowse when he was still on the books of the South Coast club, transforming their former academy product into a senior England international who was constantly getting Premier League fans out their seats by the time he departed.
Ward-Prowse’s progression at Southampton
Ward-Prowse would leave his boyhood club behind last summer for a bumper £30m fee, as West Ham United snapped up his services in the wake of Southampton’s demise down to the Championship.
He warranted that mammoth fee too, with consistent brilliant performances from the now 29-year-old midfielder during his swansong campaign resulting in nine goals and four assists, even as the bitter taste of relegation became reality.
In total, the ex-Saints captain would notch up 55 goals and 52 assists from 410 first-team games, a remarkable rise for the 5 foot 10 ace who was given his first chance in the senior set-up back in 2011 as a shy 16-year-old.
It could be argued that Ward-Prowse’s upward trajectory is one of the proudest achievements the Academy can boast, with Bale and Walcott moved on from St. Mary’s swiftly at their Southampton peaks, whilst the 29-year-old stuck around and became a legend on the South Coast subsequently.
Martin and Co will be scrambling about to see if there any more gems in the Southampton youth set-up that could take the first-team by storm soon, and cement themselves as a key option in the men’s team like Ward-Prowse managed.
They could have their answer in teenage ace Tyler Dibling, with the 18-year-old already thrown into the deep-end of the top-flight by his manager during the infancy of this challenging campaign.
Southampton’s next Ward-Prowse
Dibling is already seriously impressing those at the Saints, despite only being in the fledging stages of his career, with nine first-team appearances under his belt.
The tricky right winger even has two assists next to his name already this campaign, assisting two strikes in Southampton’s back-and-forth EFL Cup victory over Cardiff City last month, as a youthful Saints side beat the Bluebirds 5-3 in the Welsh capital.
Dibling’s numbers for Southampton | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Level | Games played | Goals | Assists |
First-team | 9 | 0 | 2 |
U21s | 27 | 8 | 6 |
U18s | 42 | 11 | 5 |
Sourced by Transfermarkt | |||
Showing off his ability to score and assist for fun in and around the various youth teams he’s played for at the Saints as well, the time could now be right for Dibling to be selected more frequently in Martin’s main team, to see if he can stake a claim for a starting spot so early into his playing days.
Given a cameo off the substitutes bench in every Premier League game so far this season, the 18-year-old starlet has’t necessarily looked massively out of his depth either, with an impressive three successful dribbles managed against Nottingham Forest from limited minutes on the St. Mary’s turf.
Scoring a wonderful solo strike for his nation too against Germany U19s this international break, lining up alongside fellow promising Southampton prospect Samuel Amo-Ameyaw, there will be plenty more expected from Dibling as he grows and develops even more.
Martin has even recently labelled Dibling as a “special” talent, as the Southampton boss goes about finding ways to make his side more entertaining on the eye, after only managing one top-flight goal so far.
He could be just what a goal-shy Southampton attack needs to surprise top-flight defences going forward, therefore, as a new wave of youngsters that could go on to be household names like Ward-Prowse start to break through.
