Right player, wrong time? Daryl Dike to be made available on a free this summer | OneFootball

It hardly takes a rocket scientist to deduce why Daryl Dike's four-and-a-half-year stint with West Bromwich Albion in the Sky Bet Championship is set to come to an unfortunate end this summer.

Trading Central Florida for the West Midlands in January 2022, the 25-year-old sustained a hamstring injury on his full Baggies debut which would rule him out for the remainder of the season. That rather set the tone for the following three years of his career, rupturing his right and then his left Achilles tendon in consecutive seasons and missing a whole load of football as a result.

So, after just 68 appearances and 11 goals across all competitions, it was announced yesterday that Dike would not be offered a new contract at West Brom and that he will be free to depart the club this summer. That means he'll be available for nothing.

Naturally, that has got some fans dreaming of a romantic homecoming. Well on course to break the rather unwanted record for the most goals conceded in a single Major League Soccer season, we are all in need of a bit of a lift at the moment. In an ideal world, I would take Dike back in a heartbeat - if, of course, he's interested. But I'm just not convinced that, at present, a return would work out for either party.

Unfinished business

It's very easy to forget that Dike only played 41 times for us before moving to England to embark on the next stage of his young footballing career. But he certainly made his mark during this time, netting 19 goals and adding four assists as we actually looked like a competitive team for the first time in years.

It's easy to forget, too, that on the rare occasion he was fit for West Brom, he was more than capable of finding the back of the net in what is one of the most physically challenging leagues in the world. Finishing the most recent season in pretty good goalscoring form, many a Baggies fan are sad to see him leave.

"Should have offered him a twelve-month contract to prove [his] fitness," said one fan on X (formerly Twitter). "His last games showed the reason why we signed him, big mistake."

In an otherwise disastrous start to the new season, Ricardo Moreira could do a lot worse than bring Dike back to Orlando. Not only would he restore a much-needed feel-good factor around the club, but he'd probably add plenty of firepower, too.

A ticking time bomb?

During his five seasons with West Brom, Dike missed an almost unbelievable 128 games due to injury problems. Falling foul to our own persistent injury crises over the past year or so, the last thing we need right now is another player who'll demand a sizeable wage but rarely be available.

However, ever since recovering from a second career thigh injury in October 2025, he has seemingly managed to keep himself fit. If he has indeed turned a corner, then expect him to rediscover the sort of form that made him such a wanted man during his time in Orlando.

Unfortunately, Dike hasn't yet bene able to prove his fitness over a prolonged period of time. Tempting him back with a decent wage or even trusting him to revive our season feels a lot to ask of Moreira, however romantic a return would be.

Wherever he heads next, it'll probably be on a short-term deal until he can prove his fitness. At the moment, approaching what I'm sure will be a huge squad overhaul over the next couple of transfer windows, I'm not sure we can offer that.

A good problem to have

As good as Dike was and still could be for us, we already have our dream striker in the building.

Helping himself to five goal contributions in eight games for Martín Perelman's senior side this season, Justin Ellis has been absolutely sensational.

He was even better than that during the first half of Wednesday night's 4-3 win over Philadelphia Union, playing two gorgeous balls over the top to Martín Ojeda who somehow couldn't capitalise on either occasion.

Simply put, Ellis has to be our first-choice striker going forward. But let's not forget about Duncan McGuire, who notched his second goal of the season on Wednesday and is still probably working his way back to full fitness after two consecutive injury-disrupted seasons of his own.

Add to that the impending arrival of Antoine Griezmann, who should be deployed alongside Ojeda as an inside forward but is more than capable of leading the line if required, and I'm pretty confident we have enough goals there for now.

In a perfect world, I would love to see Dike back in purple one day. For me, he perfectly represents that era when we put season upon season of misery behind us and finally began to prove that we are capable of competing for silverware in this league. I'm just not sure that day is today, though.