West Bromwich Albion are interested in a deal to bring Daryl Dike to The Hawthorns this summer.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by the Express & Star, who claimed that Valerien Ismael is keen to add a traditional centre-forward to his Albion squad in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window, with the Orlando City striker thought to be one of the Frenchman’s targets.
The 21-year-old, who the Baggies boss knows well from his time at Barnsley, failed to secure a move to the Tykes earlier this summer despite the club having an option to make his loan deal a permanent move, as they could not afford to pay Orlando’s asking price for the USA international.
Finally, the report stated that the MLS club could be tempted into sanctioning the temporary departure of the youngster once again this summer, albeit with a significant loan fee attached to a potential deal.
Ismael would love him
With Ismael currently lacking a traditional number nine in his Albion squad – with only Kenneth Zohore somewhat fitting this description – and Dike impressing under the Frenchman at Oakwell last season, the signing of the 21-year-old would very much appear to be a deal that the West Brom manager would love to get over the line this summer.
Indeed, over his 19 Championship appearances for the Tykes last term – 13 of which came as starts – the £7.2m-rated man scored a whopping nine goals, a rate of 0.5 per game, as well as averaging 1.7 shots per match.
These returns saw the man Ismael himself dubbed an “unbelievable” player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.02, ranking him as Barnsley’s third-best performer in the league in 2020/21.
As such, it would indeed appear highly advisable for club owner Guochuan Lai to do all he can to secure the signing of Dike this summer. Not only would the centre-forward’s arrival solve a considerable problem for West Brom, it would also more than likely go down very well with the 45-year-old coach, who knows full well what the American can do when at his best.
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