Daryl Dike "issue" raised at West Brom | OneFootball

Mowbray revealed in his final press conference that Dike's fitness levels aren't up to scratch.

Former West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Mowbray has made a damning revelation surrounding American striker Daryl Dike.

Mowbray was dismissed after the Baggies were defeated 3-1 by struggling Derby County at The Hawthorns on Easter Monday, and he delivered several surprises in his final press conference.

One of these was that senior players Grady Diangana and John Swift will both depart the club when their contracts expire over the summer.

Now it has come to light that Mowbray felt Dike’s fitness levels were significantly below what was required for him to play him from the start in games.

Mowbray has revealed that Daryl Dike’s fitness levels are poor

It’s fair to say that it didn’t really work out for Mowbray at West Brom. They won just five of the 17 league games that he was in charge for and, as has been the case for much of the Baggies’ season, the main issue was a lack of attacking threat.

In Mowbray’s final six games in the dugout, his side found the net on just four occasions.

Adam Armstrong and Will Lankshear have both struggled for form at times, while top scorer Josh Maja failed to notch a single appearance during Mowbray’s reign as a result of a lower leg injury.

Dike was the fourth and final option, but Mowbray responded to calls for him to start by revealing that his fitness levels left him incapable of playing more than 30 minutes.

The American frontman has recently recovered from a serious Achilles injury, but has struggled to get back to match sharpness due to a lack of regular training.

The outgoing Baggies boss said: “The issue I have with Dike is he doesn’t train every day. He has two or three days where he doesn’t do any training. If I want to play a game with intensity and pressing and denying the opposition the ball, Daryl’s not, in my opinion, at the level fitness-wise to help the team.

“I know what he can do. It’s like everything in football, people look at what footballers can do. Daryl’s a powerful, monster of a man, physically huge. I do talk to the sports science and medical departments about him, they feel as if he’s still carrying something from not playing much football for a few years.

“He’s stuck in a cycle of how do you get him match fit. At the moment, it’s cameos. So, if he started a game, when would he be coming off? Would he get the first 45 minutes, or am I taking him off after half an hour? Because he’s not moving after half an hour.”

Dike has never really got going at West Brom

When Dike moved to West Brom in January 2022, hopes were high for the American.

He had already had a taste of the Championship, despite his fairly young career, having scored nine goals in just 21 games for an impressive Barnsley side in 2020/21.

After that successful year on loan at Oakwell, he returned to his parent club Orlando City and struck 11 goals in their 2021 MLS season, a run of form which caught the attention of the Baggies, who signed him for an undisclosed fee.

West Brom handed Dike a four-and-a-half-year deal, but so far he has spent the majority of his time with the club sat on the sidelines.

Injuries limited him to just two appearances for the club in the 2021/22 season, having made the switch to the West Midlands in January.

The 24-year-old then showed signs of what he was capable of the following campaign, when he had seven league goals to his name from just 23 appearances, but he then suffered an Achilles tendon injury in April which ruled him out for nine months.

Then, in February last year, Dike was forced off during a clash with Ipswich Town, and it was revealed two days later that he had ruptured his Achilles tendon.

He has still yet to fully recover from that injury, and has been limited to just a handful of minutes from the substitutes’ bench since returning to the fold on 15th February.

Despite being over three years into his time at The Hawthorns, Dike has made just 41 appearances for the club.

While on his day, Dike is a powerful and dominant striker, Mowbray is correct in his assertions that a player like that is little use if they are not at 100% physically.

Baggies fans will certainly be hoping that he can get a proper pre-season under his belt over the summer, and return at his best for next season.