West Brom must finally ditch £7m dud who Ismael said had “everything”

West Bromwich Albion have become draw specialists in the Championship this season to the obvious frustration of their fans watching on.

After Sunday’s 2-2 draw with fellow promotion candidates Sheffield United, the Baggies are now up to a startling 11 draws in second tier action from 20 total games, as the West Midlands side begin to worry that these near-misses piling up could stunt their promotion chances.

These draws can be stomached easier when you also consider Carlos Corberan‘s men have only lost two times all campaign long, alongside the fact top quality stars in attack such as Josh Maja and Karlan Grant are more than capable of firing in the goals needed for an ongoing promotion hunt.

West Brom’s quality in attack

Both players in question had arguably been written off in a West Brom shirt before now coming into their own, with Maja injury-prone last season and Grant loaned out to Cardiff City having found his minutes to be infrequent at the Hawthorns.

Maja is up to double digits with ten strikes tallied up from 20 league contests, whilst his 27-year-old teammate boasts five strikes away from the ex-Sunderland man stealing the spotlight, with three of those coming in his side’s last six second-tier clashes.

Ultimately, Corberan will hope more wins come his side’s way off the back of these entertaining attacking displays, as a victory has now eluded his men in their last four outings in the difficult division.

The Spaniard would love to call upon this other option up top if he wasn’t still sidelined with injury to help their search, which has proven to be a major problem for the £7m Baggies buy throughout his stay to date.

Why Daryl Dike must finally be sold

There was a notable buzz in the air when Daryl Dike swapped America for the Championship in January of 2022, having shone in the EFL for Barnsley previously, before making the switch to West Brom happen.

Dike would fire home a promising nine strikes from 22 games donning a Tykes strip before the Baggies swooped in, with then West Brom boss Valerien Ismael making him a statement buy after he had got the 6 foot 2 ace purring when the pair were together at Oakwell.

Ismael would even state at the time of his signing that Dike had « everything » you’d want in a top striker, with acrobatic efforts like this one managed for Barnsley understandably exciting those at his new club:

“Dike has everything we need from the No.9 position. He has energy, strength – he challenges defenders – and he scores goals.

“I worked with him at Barnsley and I know him very well. He has the mentality. He is 21 years old and is still a young player – but he has a lot of experience.”

Unfortunately, whilst his spell in South Yorkshire was a dream, his time at West Brom has been nothing short of a nightmare, with the 24-year-old only fit for action 32 times across a gruelling three-season stay.

Dike’s numbers at West Brom
Stat	Dike
Games played	32
Goals scored	8
Assists	1
Days missing due to injury	744
Games missing due to injury	121
Sourced by Transfermarkt

Looking at the table above, the eight goals next to Dike’s name make for some early positive reading, but the amount of games the former Orlando City man has missed due to recurring injury issues is alarming.

Missing a gigantic 121 games owing to injury – which adds up to 744 days and counting sidelined – a tough conversation will soon need to take place with Dike over his future at the club, with no real concrete update out in the open over when he will next be available for Corberan to select.

Earning a hefty £32.3k-per-week too whilst still being a permanent fixture in the treatment room, selling on Dike down the line when he’s fit enough to exit looks to be the most plausible ending for the American at the Hawthorns.

This would be a very disappointing end for the towering striker at the second-tier outfit, after he was once seen as a signing that could help the Baggies seal promotion back up to the Premier League.