Daryl Dike Joins West Bromwich Albion, Poised For Premier League Push

Roughly 4,500 miles from his birth-place in Edmond, Oklahoma, Daryl Dike has the opportunity to enter the world’s upper-echelon of soccer. 

The U.S. Men’s National Team striker’s transfer from Orlando City SC was completed Saturday with the MLS side receiving just under $9.5 million along with performance incentives and 20% from any potential sale. The 21-year-old solidified his standing with his new club by signing a four-and-a-half-year deal upon arriving, keeping him at The Hawthorns through the 2025-26 season. 

It seemed inevitable that Dike would wind up back in Europe in 2022 and over the weekend he found himself reunited with manager Valerien Ismaël at West Bromwich Albion of the Championship, England’s second-tier of men’s soccer, with a real chance at promotion to the Premier League. 

Dike joins a West Brom side who is currently fourth in the Championship table with 42 points, which would have them in the league’s four-team playoff to determine who goes up to the Premier League alongside the teams that finish in the top two positions. Despite their early-season successes, Dike’s arrival couldn’t come at a better time as the Baggies have only scored 7 goals in their last 10 matches—half of which saw Ismaël’s side go goalless. 

This isn’t Dike’s first foray into England’s second-tier and chasing promotion to the Premier League. Last February, he was loaned to Barnsley FC and propelled them to the Championship playoffs with nine goals in 19 appearances. Barnsley, then managed by Ismaël, fell to Swansea City in the semi-finals of the promotion playoffs, with Dike going goalless in both matches.

Barnsley did have a purchase-option on Dike should they have gotten promoted to the Premier League—reports on potential transfer fees reached as high as $20 million—but the Reds didn’t exercise that option and also found itself without Ismaël as their manager.

Though there was reportedly interest for Dike from Premier League sides West Ham United and Leeds United, Dike returns to a familiar manager with a team that is fighting for promotion to the top-tier. 

Dike’s rise through the American soccer structure was uncommonly quick. He played at UVA from 2018 to 2019 where he scored 15 goals and led the Cavaliers to a runner-up finish in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship, losing to Georgetown on penalty-kicks. 

Dike began 2020 by getting drafted by Orlando City fifth overall in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft as a Generation Adidas player. He finally made his MLS debut at the MLS is Back Tournament in July 2020, going goalless in a combined 49 minutes over three appearances as a substitute. He finishes his Orlando City career with 18 goals over 35 appearances. 

In a Men’s World Cup Year, the opportunity to play against top competition will be crucial for Dike as he looks to find a way into Greg Berhalter’s squad that he takes to Qatar at the year’s end. Dike is on the outside-looking-in for strikers having had eight appearances with the national team in 2021, though he doesn’t see himself as such. 

Last month, he told ESPN his feelings about his national team prospects, “I realize that I have a lot of work to do. And I realize that there’s still a lot for me to learn but I’m going to continue to improve and I’ll make the spot but just got to keep working.”