The Baggies striker suffered yet another injury against Ipswich Town last weekend
The 23-year-old was forced to leave last weekend’s 1-1 tie between the Baggies and Ipswich Town due to an Achilles rupture, which the team confirmed will keep the striker out until the end of 2024.
This is just another blow to the American’s Hawthorns career; Dike will now need to spend another year in treatment, recuperation, and introspection. It’s a terrible shame because everyone will continue to ponder what could and ought to have happened for another year.
Daryl Dike’s history of injuries at West Brom
Even at just 23 years old, Dike has seen hardship before.
Sadly, throughout his early career, these kinds of obstacles have appeared far too frequently.
Rather than being controlled by goals, injuries have dominated his time at The Hawthorns. Before suffering a terrible Achilles injury in his right leg in April 2023, which sidelined him until January 2024, he missed a significant portion of his first half-season back in England due to a hamstring issue.
At Portman Road on Saturday, Dike made his fifth appearance of the season. However, he was substituted in and out after just nine minutes, so he too had to be changed.
Many were optimistic that the striker would recover from his injury, as it appeared that he immediately realised how serious it was. But on Monday, the worst suspicions of everybody were realised as it appeared that he will miss the rest of 2024.
The recent huge setback is only the latest in a terrible run of luck for the striker for the U.S. national team. Since joining West Brom from Orlando City in January 2022, he has only made 32 appearances overall.
Even the most jaded football fan would have been moved to tears by the sight of him being carted off, head in hands, shirt drawn over his face, as luck seemed to be against him at such an early stage in his bright future.
With everyone hoping he can overcome adversity for a third time, it seems unfair that a man with so much quality and passion cannot display that on a football ground.
Daryl Dike can take inspiration from Jodi Jones’ injury-hit career
Jodi Jones of Notts County is someone who understands the challenges of spending extended amounts of time on the sidelines at a young age.
Like Dike, the Malta international had a torturous spell on the sidelines following an early-career dazzling performance for Coventry City. However, misfortune befell him as he suffered three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in a row.
Although the 26-year-old thought his playing days were gone, a loan stint at Meadow Lane in January of last year gave him the opportunity to demonstrate his competitiveness.
He missed 130 games as a result of the three surgeries, which kept him out of the game for 897 days overall between November 2017 and August 2021.
From the day he was initially injured while playing for Coventry City in League Two to his appearance for the Magpies against Chesterfield in the National League, he lasted more than five years without starting a league game.
Jones helped lead Notts back into the Football League, and after being released by Oxford United, the East Midlands club signed him on a free transfer. This season, Jones has shown to be the best deal available.
Even though it’s just February, the winger now has the most assists in League Two history—20—of any player who has ever competed in the level.
Jones is just one of many people who have overcome hardship to rise above it; the Magpies are currently reaping the rewards of former manager Luke Williams’s faith in them, as they are vying for promotion to League One this year.
Even if it might be challenging to do so right now, Dike will consider the obstacles Jones encountered at similar phases of their lives and find solace in the knowledge that everything happens for a reason.
Leave a Reply