Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl could give wonderkid Tyler Dibling a spot in Premier League squad

Southampton‘s viral sensation Tyler Dibling is under consideration for a place in Ralph Hasenhuttl‘s matchday squad before the end of the season.

Attacking midfielder Dibling, 16, made headlines after scoring a first-half hat-trick for Southampton’s B team against Newcastle last month, with all three left-footed goals near-identical.

England under-16 international Dibling has been pictured in training with Southampton’s first team this week but Sportsmail understands Hasenhuttl is also seriously weighing up promoting the talented teenager into one of his squads for their remaining fixtures, with a place on the bench the most likely starting point.

Southampton may give Tyler Dibling (above) a Premier League debut by the end of the season

He made headlines after scoring a first-half hat-trick for Southampton’s B team vs Newcastle

Southampton are not mathematically safe from relegation but have already reached the 40-point mark, potentially giving Hasenhuttl greater scope to assess his options in the last few weeks of the season.

Southampton travel to Brentford on Saturday and Leicester on the final day, with a home clash with Liverpool in between as their penultimate fixture of 2021/22.

Were he to play before the end of the season Dibling would be in impressive company.

Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl (pictured above) is reportedly considering whether to call up the 16-year-old attacking midfielder to a Premier League matchday squad for the first time

Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw, Gareth Bale and James Ward-Prowse are among the players to have made their Southampton debuts aged 16.

Attacking midfielder Dibling has scored eight goals and set up five more in just 17 games at youth team level for Southampton this season.

Following Dibling’s eye-catching exploits against Newcastle, Hasenhuttl said: ‘We know his qualities and we are not jumping on this; we try to keep it calm. He is one of the shining players in our youth, we know that, meanwhile, it is always very difficult to keep them in our club.

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale (centre) also made his first-team debut at Southampton aged 16

‘The good thing is that we see how good he is, the bad thing is other clubs are seeing it, but you can be sure we will try to push him and to support him. I think he represents one of the good ones.

‘It is always good to see such a young player shows this talent. We don’t want to hang it too high, when you score three goals for the B team, but we know this is not normal. 

‘We know this player and we have a high opinion, he can definitely be a player for the future for Southampton. I am sure he can score other goals too.’