Southampton have an option to extend Tyler Dibling's contract, so they are under no pressure to sell quickly, but the club are keen to reward the teenager's performances with an increased salary and this is where the problem lies.
Russell Martin has been speaking to the media ahead of the game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and he has addressed the media speculation surrounding Tyler Dibling with rumours of the big club vultures circling.
Dibling's current contract runs until July 2027 and apparently there is an option to extend that, so it seems our latest Academy prodigy is essentially tied to Saints until July 2028, another 3 1/2 years.
Now we all know that contract's essentially mean nothing in terms of keeping a player, all they do is push up the transfer value if there are a few years left.
Sky Sports have been quoting Russell Martin as saying:
"I was told some rumours about Man Utd, one was a bid of £21m.
"I'm not sure you'll get his left foot for that."
"We have offered him a contract, a really good contract for someone his age.
"At the minute, I don't think his agent agrees, so that's where we're at.
"I think Tyler wants it done, I think Tyler's parents want it done, so we'll see how long that takes.
"There is an option. We can extend. I don't think we want to do that - we want to reward Tyler for his performances.
"I've spoken to Tyler's mum and dad about it, I've spoken to Tyler, but then I'm not involved in any of the negotiations - that's down to Phil [Parsons, Southampton's chief executive] and the gang, the owners and Tyler's agent - and that's where it gets tricky."
So it seems that the deal is stalling through another greedy agent, we know from history that Dibling and his parent's have always put his playing career over money, back in 2022 he had gone to Chelsea, but returned to St Mary's within weeks after realising that Chelsea did not offer a clear path to the first team and that he would be part of a far bigger production line where playing for Chelsea's first team would be very difficult and that initially after a year or two in their Academy side, he would most probably find himself loaned out.
He did not want that path, he wanted a career in football ahead of money, from martin's comments it seems that that is still the case, however it looks like his agent disagrees and would rather see him move on for the cash, even though that might mean he would no longer be a regular in the Premier League.
Dibling has been compared to Jack Grealish in his style of play and it is interesting to note that Grealish himself was patient in his development, chasing success on the pitch rather than money.
He spent a season on loan with Notts County at 18 years old and on his return started to play in the Aston Villa first team, but he would be 20 before he was a regular, when Villa were relegated in 2016, most thought that he would leave for a bigger club in the Premier League, but he stayed loyal even though it took Villa 3 seasons to get back to the top flight.
After two seasons back in the Premier League, shades of Matthew Le Tissier here, he eventually went to Manchester City as he approached his 26th birthday and having done the groundwork he was ready to move to a truly top class team and establish himself.
Tyler Dibling is ahead of Jack Grealish in terms of where his career lies and from that perspective he has the potential to far exceed the career that Grealish has had, both at club and International level.
So personally he is at a crossroads, does he stay with his head and heart and concentrate on building his career on the pitch ahead of his bank balance, or does he listen to his agents and chase the money.
He is currently with a German company called roof, they have 135 players on their books, the top player in terms of value being Kai Havertz at £75 million, other Premier League stars include Virgil Van Dyke, Harvey Elliot and Bournemouth seem to have done a lot of business with them, 3 of their first team squad are on Roof's books.
A brief look at their book shows mainly players in Germany with most being either young like Dibliing or older such as Van Dyke.
They do not seem to be that experienced at dealing with high profile transfers, they have only 16 players on their books worth over £20 million and roughly 100 of their roster are worth less than £10 million.
So it seems that Tyler Dibling might well be a goldmine for them financially and we will soon see whether they are agents who put their players careers first or encourage them to chase the money.
From Dibling's point of view, I would think it would be better to sign a new deal at Saints and get some financial security now, he is effectively tied to the club for the next 3 1/2 years on a deal based on being a 16 year old starlet, signing a new contract on bigger money won't harm his chances of a transfer going forward, he has the talent to succeed at the highest level, clubs will be bidding for him and money will be no object to them.