Russell Martin believes Newcastle United target slapped with £100m price tag will be 'worth every penny'

Southampton relieved Russell Martin of his managerial responsibilities in December as the Saints were rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

It didn't do Southampton any good with their relegation back to the Championship confirmed with seven games remaining. A truly dismal season by an abysmal side.

However, there has been one shining light in the Saints' season and that was the emergence of young English talent Tyler Dibling.

Newcastle United have been keen on the youngster ever since he popped up with a hat trick against the U21s when he was just 16, and now that the Magpies have seen him handle a year in the Premier League, there are rumours of a summer bid.

After being slapped with a £100 million asking price in a bid to ward off interest, a much more reasonable figure of around £35 million has recently been mooted, but there will likely be a fight for his services this summer from several big clubs which could drive the price up.

Russell Martin appeared on The Rest Is Football podcast this week where he was asked for his opinion on Dibling and it seems the ex-Southampton boss can't praise him highly enough.

“Tyler has every capability to play for England and at the top level for a very long time because he’s powerful, really quick, both-footed, and he has a physicality where players just bounce off him.

“He has something about him that I’ve not seen in a British player for a very long time, to play in the middle of the park and to be able to swivel and go.

“He’ll play as a number eight or ten eventually, but he can play out wide too and even false nine, he played false nine for us in pre-season and he was our best player.

“He’s an amazing young man but he needs the right style of play and environment to really thrive.

“I don’t think he’ll be cheap but he’ll be worth every penny.”

Tyler Dibling may have an issue with moving too far away from Southampton

Who knows what his eventual fee will be this summer, but Newcastle United should absolutely be one of the clubs vying for his signature.

At just 19 years old, to be pretty much the only player to come away from a relegation season with any credit, he's done exceptionally well and he will probably have his pick of clubs for his next destination.

We can only hope that we've been planting seeds ever since we first started tracking him and that our progress this season could tempt him to make the move up North. Although given how he got homesick three months after moving from Southampton to Chelsea when he was younger, we won't hold our breath.