West Brom striker Daryl Dike drops Chelsea revelation - it doesn't affect his love for the Baggies | OneFootball

Daryl Dike has issued an intriguing post regarding Albion and his boyhood club Chelsea

West Bromwich Albion striker Daryl Dike has once again spoken about his love for Chelsea despite featuring for a handful of other clubs throughout his career to date.

The USMNT international's latest revelation came amid his questioning as to why some sections of the general footballing community believe that professional players cannot express their support for other clubs whilst playing for others, or in some cases, even facing off against the team they confess to have supported their entire life.

Dike has been on the Baggies' books for the past three-and-a-half years after making a £7.4m switch from MLS outfit, Orlando City, under Valerien Ismael back in January 2022, and has become somewhat of a unique figure among supporters due to his well-documented social media interactions and presence crossed with lengthy spells of injury misfortune during his lengthy spell at The Hawthorns.

So far this season, the powerful striker has watched Albion's impressive start to life under Ryan Mason from the sidelines, with his new, 34-year-old boss tasting defeat just twice in all competitions - ironically, they were both at the hands of Derby County in both the EFL Cup and Championship.

Despite starting the latest era in this part of the West Midlands rather well, overall chance creation and prolificacy have been small areas of concern for Mason to ponder over, and Dike will be hoping to play a part in improving such metrics once he returns to full fitness after yet another recent injury blow.

Regardless, why he is somewhat helpless in relation to on-pitch matters at present, he has clarified that his love and passion for Albion hasn't impacted his support for Enzo Maresca's side.

Daryl Dike issues passionate social media message involving West Brom and Chelsea

Dike, 25, was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, and has previously spoken about how he grew up supporting the club from the Kings Road, and that he idolised the likes of Didier Drogba and Romelu Lukaku, who also has a strong place in the heart of Albion supporters for his 17-goal haul at The Hawthorns on loan from the Blues back in 2012/13, which provided a springboard for his future successes.

The striker also previously referenced the in-house rivalry in his household growing up, with his brother supporting London rivals, Arsenal.

Unsurprisingly, the centre-forward has since grown affiliations with the likes of Albion, Orlando and current League One outfit, Barnsley, who he helped make the second-tier play-offs back in 2020/21 under the aforementioned Ismael.

In his latest TikTok post, Dike was keen to outline that his loyalties at present, very much lie with the B71 club, and that he would happily score a hat-trick against his boyhood side if it impacted his current employers in a positive manner.

"The thing that people don't understand sometimes is that a lot of footballers, we support football clubs just like you guys do," the American passionately stated.

"Like, people will go and tell me, 'oh Daryl, you can't wear a Chelsea kit and be a Chelsea fan because you play for West Brom'

"I've been a Chelsea fan since I was six years old. They've been my lockscreen for the longest time, and you think I'm going to just forget about them?

"That doesn't mean I'm not a West Brom fan now," he added. "Obviously, I hold this club very very high. Even when I'm done playing, I'm still going to be a big West Brom fan.

"If anything, if West Brom were to play Chelsea tomorrow, I want to score a hat-trick against Chelsea," Dike claimed. "I want to score against them more than I want to other teams. But, that doesn't mean I'm not a Chelsea fan, it doesn't make any sense.

"Even people at West Brom, I will tell you this, there are players who aren't West Brom fans. We actually have players who support Villa and Blues.

"I'll let you guys decide that, but we do have players who do that. It doesn't matter because you're going to do your job, support your team and play with passion but we all support different clubs.

"I don't care if you're an Everton fan, I just don't understand. We can do whatever we want."

Daryl Dike will hope to eventually feature for West Brom vs Chelsea amid fresh message

As Dike stated several times, such circumstances rarely have an impact on the performance of a player when they are featuring for any club, so Albion supporters are likely to not give any thoughts that some in their ranks support Aston Villa or Birmingham City, with the recently-departed Tom Fellows coming from a family of Bluenoses.

The American has featured just 43 times in his time with the club, scoring nine times, and is set to make a return to action in the near future after suffering another setback in pre-season after scoring twice on the final day of last season in a 5-3 win against Luton Town.

He is out-of-contract at the end of the season though, with question marks already raised as to whether he will be handed an extension due to his unfortunate injury record, meaning the striker will be hoping that the Baggies can be drawn against Chelsea in the FA Cup in January given his aforementioned claim.

The last time Dike's current side and boyhood club faced off was in April 2021, when eventually-relegated Albion stunned the season's UEFA Champions League winners with a remarkable 5-2 victory at Stamford Bridge.