Southampton should pursue move for West Brom ace if Everton deal goes through | OneFootball

Southampton should pursue a move for West Bromwich Albion winger Tom Fellows if Tyler Dibling does indeed depart for Everton this summer.

As they seek to mount a sustained promotion challenge in the Championship once again this season, Southampton could do with making some transfer decisions quite quickly, amid reported interest in attacker Tyler Dibling.

The Saints were relegated from the top-flight last season in fairly humiliating fashion, and they are embarking upon another season in the second-tier now under the management of former Lens and Stade de Reims boss Will Still.

They have been relatively quiet in the transfer window so far with a few big money outgoings not yet having come to fruition, with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale heading for Newcastle United on loan, with Porto interested in centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis and West Ham United among many clubs reportedly keen on Mateus Fernandes.

Another potential outgoing could be Tyler Dibling, who had previously been the reported subject of interest from Manchester United and RB Leipzig; with Everton having now had a £27 million bid apparently rejected for his services, albeit with the Toffees expected to come back in for the 19-year-old winger.

If Dibling was indeed to depart St Mary’s this summer, then Southampton should target a move for West Bromwich Albion winger Tom Fellows as his replacement.

Fellows has already shown a cutting edge that Dibling hasn’t

There is actually a fair and reasonable view that Tom Fellows has shown more effective promise and potential than Dibling has so far in his career, despite the price tag being banded around with regards to Dibling.

West Brom’s England U21 international winger has provided substance in terms of assists, with no player having earned more assists in the Championship last year, as opposed to Dibling’s intriguing performances; but his quality and the likelihood of how good he will be would and should be viewed as purely theoretical right now.

If Southampton kept him, then they may well have one of the best players in the division on their hands, but if they shifted him on then they would be able to swoop in for more of a guarantee.

Fellows, at 22, is also hardly moving on to someone with a known ceiling in terms of his talent, as he continues to impress having made his Baggies debut back in the 2021/22 campaign.

Fellows, who has also reportedly been the subject of Everton interest, has shown an excellent level of technical quality and speed to drift around and beat players.

Despite his age, he also appears to be maturing rapidly, perhaps aided by his loan stint at Crawley Town during the 2022/23 League Two season, where he was again thought of as an excellent prospect.

The one thing for him to develop would be his goalscoring, failing to hit the net in 38 league appearances for Crawley, and having only notched nine times in 92 Albion appearances.

However, that is something that is only likely to come as he continues his development with the rest of the raw and more important materials there for him to become a dominant player in the second-tier.

Fellows would also suit the style of Still

English-Belgian coach Still has developed a reputation for being tactically flexible and pragmatic, within the parameters of wanting to play a progressive style of football.

His ability to play a range of systems in order to get the best out of the players at his disposal is balanced against a desire to develop young players and ensure they become the stars of his teams, as shown by Folarin Balogun’s rapid rise during his loan spell at Reims with Still.

Fellows, therefore, is already on an upward trajectory and could find himself becoming a more rounded player, with Fellows seemingly ideally suited to the Still style.

Fellows would not necessarily be the direct replacement for Dibling because there are some differences in the areas of the pitch they appear most suited to picking the ball up in, with Dibling dribbling from deep and Fellows waiting to affect the game higher up.

However, that again could be beneficial to Southampton, with the system-based approach of Still likely to minimise off-the-cuff skill from his players, thus aiding those with a tactical intelligence already displayed by Fellows.

Dibling may remain down on the south coast, and he could go on to be a good player this season, but for a lesser fee than they would receive for Dibling, Southampton could move for a player in Fellows who appears way ahead of Dibling in his development, as they seek an immediate return to the Premier League.