West Brom ‘miss perfect opportunity’ with Daryl Dike news
Daryl Dike is making his way back to full fitness for West Brom and will be chomping at the bit for more minutes.
Dike made his long-awaited return to West Brom’s matchday squad against Millwall on 12 February, and came on for a brief 12-minute cameo at the end of the second half to complete his comeback.
Following almost two years out of action due to two separate Achilles tendon injuries, Dike is making the steps back towards being a first-team regular, and didn’t feature against Oxford United last time out.
The USA international’s last Albion appearance prior to that late cameo at The Den came back in March 2024; rupturing his Achilles in a Championship match against Ipswich and not being seen for 10 months.
Daryl Dike left out of West Brom Under-21s clash
With West Brom having a rare seven-day spell between Championship matches ahead of facing leaders Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday, their Under-21s took on Crystal Palace in Premier League 2.
However, the young Baggies’ 15-player squad – which they posted on X prior to kick-off on 24 February at Damson Park in Solihull – didn’t include Dike at all, or any other first-team players in need of minutes.
Mowbray has made clear that he’s trying to manage Dike’s minutes as his comeback from the wilderness continues, both in terms of how intensely he trains and how often he’ll feature in Albion’s matches.
Time for some #PL2 action in Solihull! 👊
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) February 24, 2025
This is how our U21s line up for their match against @CPFC under the lights.
COYB! 💙🤍 pic.twitter.com/66JXnTr1t0
Daryl Dike decision will leave West Brom fans baffled
Although Under-21s matches are primarily focused upon the development of a club’s young players, they also present the perfect opportunity for first-team players to get valuable minutes under their belts.
Dike is certainly a player who needs to get back up to speed with the frenetic nature and intensity of the Championship, thus you’d expect Mowbray to make as much use of Dike as possible in such matches.
| Daryl Dike Injury | Date(s) | Days Missed |
| Left Achilles tendon surgery | 11 February 2024 | 363 Days |
| Right Achilles tendon surgery | 16 April 2023 | 265 Days |
| Thigh issue | 1 August 2022 | 99 Days |
| Hamstring injury | 22 January 2022 | 53 Days |
| Shoulder injury | 27 August 2021 | 26 Days |
The 24-year-old is hardly the only Albion player in need of game-time, with Gianluca Frabotta and new signing Tammer Bany facing a similar challenge to Dike in terms of breaking into the first-team ranks.
Elland Road is hardly the setting to throw Dike on cold from the bench with very few minutes in his legs, and if Mowbray is forced into such a scenario on Saturday, he’ll regret missing the perfect opportunity to get the lesser-spotted American back up to speed.