West Brom: Fears over lasting effects as Daryl Dike hit by nightmare injury amid ‘even worse’ verdict from Chris Lepkowski
Chris Lepkowski has expressed fears over lasting effects to Daryl Dike after the West Brom striker was ruled out with another major injury.
The USMNT striker’s abysmal luck with the Baggies has taken another turn with the news from the club that the problem that saw him stretchered off in the 2-1 win at Stoke on Saturday (15 April) is a full rupture of his Achilles that requires surgery, ruling him out for up to nine months.
The nature of injury is serious enough that Liquidator host Lepkowski doesn’t think there could be many worse situations for a player, and hopes there are no long-term mobility issues once the 22-year-old returns well into next season.
Reacting to the news on Twitter on Tuesday (18 April) he wrote: “Jeez, a full rupture of the Achilles’ for Dike? Just about the worst kind of lower-body injury a footballer can suffer. Hopefully no lasting effects as with so many players in the past.
“We can effectively rule him out of large chunk of next season. Best case scenario he’s fit for November…but then will require a fitness programme to get fully match sharp.
“I’d say it’s even worse [than an ACL tear]. You can usually recover the movement in the knee. AT can be known to restrict ankle movement. Hopefully improved rehab/treatment will ensure that doesn’t happen”.
Devastating
Even before any considerations of how this effects West Brom it is appalling news for Dike himself after the struggles he has already been through at The Hawthorns.
Having featured for less than 90 minutes in the previous campaign following his £7million arrival, he was then ruled out for three and a half months of the current season after just 12 minutes in the opening game.
Finally getting a sustained amount of Baggies action since November he had chipped in with seven Championship goals but now won’t finish the play-off push or be involved for a significant portion of next season.
The former Orlando City man posted on Twitter, “Words cannot be made to describe how I feel right now”, as he vowed to bounce back once more.
He has age on his side and unfortunately plenty of experience of rehabbing his way back to action, so few would bet against him this time.
But he has been hit by such dreadful luck as an Albion player that it will still feel like he hasn’t properly had a chance to get started two years after he was signed, and Carlos Corberan is without another attacking option for the foreseeable future.
In other West Brom news, Jeff Stelling had already pinpointed a key Baggies issue that has just got worse as the playoff push has faltered.