Val’s hammer blow as Dike out for 11 games
DARYL Dike will miss at least the next two months of action after suffering a muscle injury in Albion’s 3-0 win over Peterborough on Saturday.
The USA international striker was handed his first start for the Baggies after arriving from Orlando City on New Year’s Day and was pencilled in to play around an hour of the Championship fixture at The Hawthorns.
Shortly after half-time, though, he pulled up and was immediately assessed by the club’s medical staff. It was clear Dike wouldn’t be able to continue.
Valerien Ismael’s initial prognosis was that he would miss at least the Preston match last night (Wednesday) and Saturday’s trip to Millwall, with a ten-day rest period following that before the journey to Sheffield
United. However, the scan results have pointed to a more severe outcome.
“It’s a bad muscle injury and we think he will miss eight weeks,” revealed the head coach. “It’s a bad hit for us. We need to deal with the situation, another challenging situation for us and for him, but we need to carry on and focus on the game. But it is a bad injury, that is clear.”
The next step for Dike is a suitable period of rehabilitation to ensure that when he does return, hopefully after the March international break, he remains 100% fit for Albion’s run-in.
“I found out Monday evening – the doctor called me to give me the scan result,” said Ismael. “I was not surprised because it was my feeling after the game.
“I spoke with him, he described what happened and I had a feeling it could be worse.
“I tried to stay positive but with the experience I have built up over the years – and with what the player was describing – it gave me a feeling it could be something worse and now we have had the confirmation.
“We will start the rehab with Dike and I think if everything goes right he will be available after the international break at the end of March.”
Albion’s jam-packed fixture list in February and then the beginning of March means Dike will be absent for the bulk of their remaining games.
“Eleven,” Ismael confirmed, when asked how many games he expects to prepare for without his newest signing. “He was a big hope, he was our main transfer, he gave us a lot of hope.
“The good thing is that he is our player, he has a long-term contract so we will have a lot of joy with him – just not in the next 11 games.
“We need to deal with the challenge, we will deal with the situation.
It was a negative point from Saturday’s game but we took a lot of positive things from the game and that is what we want to take into the game (against Preston).”
Ismael has confirmed he will look into a striker contingency plan between now and Monday night’s transfer deadline.
“It’s clear we need to assess again the situation and see what we can get on the market,” he said. “We got our target number one, we spent the money on target number one.
“We need to have someone who can help us straight away and for a short time. It’s a balance to find someone who is available and who it makes sense to sign.
“We have a couple of days now to make the right decision. First, there is a game on Wednesday, but it’s clear that after the game we need to work behind the scenes and put every solution on the table.”