Who is Daryl Dike? The American making waves at Barnsley and wanted by Man Utd

Martin Macdonald

Updated: 19 May 2021 08:39 CDT
3 min read

Who is Daryl Dike? The American making waves at Barnsley and wanted by Man Utd — © ProShots

Over the past few years, Americans have started popping up at some of Europe’s biggest clubs, and 20-year-old Daryl Dikes could be set to join that elite group.

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Christian Pulisic is at Chelsea, Weston McKennie is with Juventus and Sergino Dest is at Barcelona among others.

Though Dikes is yet to hit those big heights yet, he has been given the chance to impress on loan at Barnsley from Orlando City – and he has taken that opportunity.

What position does Daryl Dike play in?

Dike plays as a central striker. He is a target man who is excellent at getting on the end of crosses.

How good is Daryl Dike?

Dike already had quite the reputation in the United States before making the move to Barnsley on loan in February of 2021.

At a lower level he won the Atlantic Coast Conference with Virginia Cavaliers and was named NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament Player of the Competition in 2019, the second of which is a prestigious college soccer tournament in the United States.

It was his exploits at college level that earned him a move to Orlando City, whom he would play for in the 2020 MLS campaign, scoring eight goals in 17 starts.

For Barnsley, he has started eight games in all competitions since his loan move, and managed to hit the back of the net five times. It may be a short stint in English football so far, but it has been an impressive one, which is why the suitors are circling.

Even at just 20-years-old, he is a full international for the USA.

Though he can use his strength and physicality to hold the ball up and introduce others into the game, he prefers playing off the shoulder of the last defender in order to utilise his cracking pace to run in behind.

His biggest strength is, undoubtedly, well, his strength.

After Dike scored a screamer against Birmingham, Barnsley head coach Valerien Ismael said:

“In my career, in 29 years in football, it was an unbelievable strike and an unbelievably feeling for Dike. My first thinking was to [thank] the board for the transfer of Dike at the last minute

“We were looking for strikers to suit our play and adapt to the Championship. We knew Dike was the right guy for us.”

What clubs are interested in Daryl Dike?

If certain reports are to be believed, half the Premier League have scouted Dike so far in his time in England.

The team thought to be leading the race for Dike is Everton, according to Eurosport.

Carlo Ancelotti is keen to add another strike to his ranks next season to provide some competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and with Moise Kean looking likely to leave Goodison Park there is room in the striker roster for another body.

Manchester United and Chelsea have scouted Dike, too, but it is unlikely they will pull the trigger on a transfer just yet due to his very short period in England.

Barnsley themselves have the opportunity to make the move permanent should they trigger a clause in the current loan deal.

Reports suggested this could be as much as £17 million but Barnley chief executive Dane Murphy disputed this, telling the Barnsley Chronicle: “It’s not realistic that Barnsley would pay that. The buy option is quite similar to prices we have paid for players before. It was key to the deal that we got a buy option in.”