Daryl Dike’s afternoon began with excitement as the American forward earned his first start for West Bromwich Albion, but it ended in frustration as he was forced to leave the match shortly after halftime due to injury.
Dike played 52 minutes for West Brom in a 3-0 English Football League Championship win over Peterborough United before being substituted off with a hamstring injury. He is expected to miss at least the next two league matches for West Brom before being re-evaluated.
“We lost Daryl Dike to injury and we will see what the situation is on Monday with him,” West Brom manager Valentin Ismael said. “We will see on Monday when he has a scan, but for sure the next two games he will miss because we cannot afford to take any risks now, especially after the Millwall game we have another 11 days.
“Now he can have 20 days to get ready for the Sheffield United game if the injury is not too bad.”
Dike completed a reported $10 million transfer to West Brom earlier in January from Orlando City. The 21-year-old excelled in MLS with the Lions, totaling 19 goals and four assists in 41 appearances for the club.
A former University of Virginia starter, Dike spent the second half of last season on loan with England second tier club Barnsley, scoring nine goals in 22 appearances.
Dike made his USMNT debut in February 2021 and has since gone on to score three goals in eight caps under Gregg Berhalter. He also helped the USMNT win the Concacaf Gold Cup last summer.
West Brom sits in fifth place in the Championship table with 45 points earned in 27 matches. Dike’s absence would be a major loss for the Baggies, which faces Preston North End and Millwall in their final two matches this month.
told y’all it was risky for him to transfer right when he did. the transfer was timed “just so” to be off-season but also unavailable for the “MLS guys camp.” it meant he would be working back into playing shape for WBA when GB was making decisions. to be fair, this would have been a risk either way, but he stacked the odds against him making this window — when he’s been outside looking in — and this injury basically ends his chances of making the team anytime during quali. which complicates making a go at the world cup team itself. i’d have saved this for summer, see if i can make the US team first.
i feel bad for him but he and his agent were kind of dense on this timing.
I think you are right that he won’t play in any qualifiers but I don’t think it means he can’t make the world cup roster. Because it is in winter, he gets a full fall season assuming he can avoid injury to showcase. I expect GGG to bring two 9s and I am hopeful that he hasn’t made those decisions yet and those spots are won in the fall.
you’re looking at inertia from world cup qualifying — already outside looking in — plus he’s probably not the first “cut” missing out. he will be down a list all wanting a look in a friendly eg sargent pefok nico. under any other coach i would absolutely write him off because they would dance with who brung them. that and while you’re thinking, oh, come back for a summer friendly or something, england’s season ends in 3 months and is off til july or august. the window for getting him in game fitness, making a club case, and back in a friendly will be tiny. the one thing going for him is this coach has tried pretty hard to squeeze him in. the difficulty is he also loved nico and sargent and pefok. it’s not just run his race it’s outrun the rest.
I think he needed more time off.
some of the snobs love using landon and his endless loans and caps as a template but he probably took time and the last world cup off the end of his career due to perceived burn out. landon was a fitness freak and when we treat pulisic or aaronson like him they look exhausted. we need to learn to treat players individually not one size fits all. some of these guys are workout freaks, don’t need much rest, and can be in good shape not playing. some badly need team structure and rest or they look awful.