West Ham must pay club-record £60m fee for wonderkid who ‘plays like Cole Palmer’

Glance through the list of West Ham United’s most expensive-ever signings, and it does not make for particularly pleasent reading for fans of the Premier League outfit.Of the current top ten, arguably only one – Mohammed Kudus – can be considered a resounding success. And even his form has dipped this term.Lucas Paqueta flits from awesome to anonymous on a week-by-week basis. With reports claiming West Ham could sell Paqueta for just £25 million – two years after Manchester City came close to striking an £80 million deal – that feels like a rather worrying best-case scenario for a man who has a potential lifetime ban hanging over his head.Of the remaining top ten, James Ward-Prowse admits this year has been a disappointment. Max Kilman is yet to live up to his price tag. Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd and Felipe Anderson promised much but delivered little, while Kurt Zouma is currently on loan in the Middle East.Edson Alvarez probably won’t be missed if he departs on a permanent basis – the Mexican midfielder again hinted at a West Ham exit this week – and record signing Sebastien Haller is just one of many strikers who struggled to turn potential into goals in claret-and-blue.So, with West Ham in the race to sign Southampton’s Tyler Dibling, an eye-watering transfer fee could see him displace Haller as the most expensive signing in the club’s history.Whether he could thrive where so many before him have disappointed, however, is anyone’s guess.Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty ImagesWest Ham may have to pay record fee for Southampton’s Tyler DiblingAccording to TEAMtalk, while suggestions that Southampton are demanding £100 million may be a little wide of the mark, Dibling’s price tag is likely to sit somewhere in the region of £60 million.A colossal sum for a 19-year-old with only one season of regular first-team football under his belt.Yet, even during a miserable campaign for The Saints, Dibling took to the Premier League like a duck to water. “Do you know what it is? I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but he plays his game like Cole Palmer, doesn’t he?,” former Aston Villa and Manchester United striker Dion Dublin told the BBC earlier in the campaign.“He plays free and easy, and he gets himself into good positions, rolls players and takes the ball well.”“It is the quality he has got. The belief in himself and the physical power,” agrees ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy. “He just goes past people with ease. He has got a lovely left foot. He is very brave on the ball and his decision-making is good.“It is difficult to get too over the top with these young players, because he has just come on to the scene, but he is going to be something special.”Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United in Dibling raceWest Ham, of course, would be buying pure potential in Dibling. For a considerable fee, as well. The Hammers have been tracking Dibling since midway through the campaign. Considerable competition is likely to arise. Manchester United and Liverpool are big fans while it did not go unnoticed that Tottenham captain Heung-Min Son was spotted talking to the Southampton starlet after a meeting between the two clubs. West Ham, however, could offer Dibling the sort of regular minutes he may struggle to get elsewhere. Particularly at newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool, for instance.Though whether he is worthy of such an investment, or whether West Ham could even afford such an investment, is another matter altogether.