£25k-a-week West Brom star tipped for Hawthorns exit – He can 'feel hard done by' | OneFootball

FLW’s West Brom fan pundit believes Daryl Dike could be departing The Hawthorns during the January transfer window.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

The January transfer window could be a period of time that defines West Brom’s 2025-26 season in the Championship.

The Baggies will be targeting a return to the Premier League under controlling shareholder Shilen Patel, but serious work is needed to be done in order to have a realistic chance of achieving this goal.

Overall, the playing squad is short of what Patel would have liked after the summer transfer window slammed shut, particularly after he sanctioned the late sales of key duo Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows.

With those players not being truly replaced due to scrambling for last-minute deals, Albion should be using the turn of the new year to bolster those areas, which could be the catalyst to seeing the Black Country outfit rise up the table and be successful this term.

While funds are still tight due to ongoing financial issues, Albion may have to force some current first-team figures out of the door who aren’t getting regular minutes or have been prone to injury problems during their stints in the blue and white stripes.

With this in mind, FLW’s West Brom fan pundit has named one player who is expected to depart this winter that surprisingly didn’t leave in the summer gone.

Daryl Dike expected to bring a nightmare spell at West Brom to an end in January

Speaking to Football League World, West Brom fan pundit Callum Burgess believes Daryl Dike could wave goodbye to The Hawthorns during the upcoming January transfer window due to his lack of playing time since returning from a second Achilles injury.

Callum said: “With Daryl Dike’s lack of minutes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s someone that receives interest in him in January.

“Even though his troubled injury history has probably made him out of favour at Albion, I think he can definitely feel hard done by with his lack of minutes, and if he was to look for a move elsewhere and try to put his troubles at Albion behind him, I don’t think anyone would begrudge him.

“It’s a shame really, because we know he’s had patches when fully fit where he’s scored goals in the Championship, and it’s a shame that it’s not worked out.”

Daryl Dike needs a fresh environment to get his career back on track

It’s been a desperately sad time for Daryl Dike since he moved to The Hawthorns, with multiple injuries ravaging an opportunity to become a fan favourite in B71.

Since linking up from Barnsley for a reported £7m fee back in January 2022, the American international has suffered hamstring, thigh and two Achilles injuries that have limited him to making the number of appearances in four full seasons that you would expect in one or two.

And it’s a real shame, as when he has played, he has been able to find the back of the net consistently and offer Albion some potency in the final third.

But after so many problems, it now appears that the West Brom coaches don’t have the faith that Dike, who earns an estimated £25k-a-week at the club, can stand the test of a relentless Championship campaign without breaking down again, and it could be the time to get him off the books and allow him to find his feet elsewhere.

You would think it’s something the Baggies have to consider in January, as it is the last opportunity to get some cash back from a sale, as the frontman’s contract does run down at The Hawthorns next summer.

If an exit does materialise, then West Brom will have to be in the hunt for another addition in the forward department, so if they are planning to move Dike on, they must prioritise it and ensure everything is signed off quite early into the transfer window at the turn of 2026.