Everton captain James Tarkowski has praised Tyler Dibling's talent after the £35m summer signing produced a man-of-the-match display in the Carabao Cup win over Wolves. "His talent is incredible. You can see in glimpses he shows when he goes past people. We see in training all the time how good he is. But then doing it [in games] is the hardest part. But the past couple of games he's showing what he can really do. Hopefully, he can build from that," Tarkowski said.
Struggles in maiden Merseyside campaign
Dibling endured a miserable first season at Everton after arriving from Southampton in the summer of 2025. Touted as a £100m player during Southampton's relegation campaign, the Blues secured his signature for a fraction of that valuation, even with add-ons, which felt like a coup for a club emerging from years of austerity and relegation fights.
Last season was largely positive until the final seven games, when a shock return to European football slipped from David Moyes' grasp. One of the biggest disappointments was Dibling's failure to make an instant impression, sparking concerns over whether the 20-year-old was destined to struggle at Everton.
Breakthrough against Wolves
Pre-season showed good signs as Dibling grew in confidence, albeit against lesser sides. The breakthrough came against Wolves in the Carabao Cup, where he influenced both ends of the pitch and created the goal that secured a narrow victory, earning the man-of-the-match award.
Assistant manager Alan Irvine said: "Since he came back for pre-season, he's looked like he belongs here. He has looked more comfortable. He's a very quiet lad, Tyler, and it can sometimes take quiet lads, young lads, quite a bit of time to settle in, especially to a club like this with the expectations that are here, so that was probably difficult for him last year. But he's come back right from the first day of pre-season, looking much more comfortable in the environment and being able to play for a club of this size."
Moyes applauded Dibling after a passage of play where the youngster played a sublime through-ball that Brennan Johnson should have finished, before racing back to halt the ensuing counter-attack with an inch-perfect challenge on the edge of his own box. "I liked the pass because that's what we brought him for," Moyes said. "I have just said about the DNA at Everton and he's beginning to show it by that [tackle]. He's beginning to show that we don't always have the top quality and we might not always have the best but we're expecting him to do everything he can for the team and he did in that moment."
Building on the performance
The question for Dibling is whether he can prevent the Wolves performance from being a false dawn. He had shown glimpses before, including in the hard-fought Christmas win at Nottingham Forest, but failed to build on them. In the following Premier League game against Ipswich Town, he came off the bench to help Everton gain the ascendancy in a second half they had started poorly, coming close twice and picking out Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at the back post.
Tarkowski pointed to Dibling's friendship group as a catalyst for his rise in form. "He's got a good couple of mates who build him up," the centre-back said. Dibling and Tyrique George have long been friends, having grown through the England set-up together. The permanent addition of George in the summer, alongside Harrison Armstrong, has formed a strong friendship unit that appears to be helping all three.
George, who scored his first Blues goal with a stunning effort against Manchester United, said of his work with Dibling: "We are training a lot, trying to do well, trying to push each other and we want to keep that going." On Armstrong, he added: "He is a top player and a top person as well, a funny guy. He's a good person, he's nice."
All three are having excellent starts to the season, with Armstrong having started every Premier League match in the heart of Moyes' midfield. With Armstrong called up to the England U20s this month, it should not be long before the three are travelling the world with the U21s, where Dibling and George already compete.
