Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion

Gotta love the secondary announcer's reaction on the replay. "Jeeeez...oof".

 

Yep. I thought it was just a hilarious combo of awkward touches, and then out came the howitzer. He won’t have that kind of time to set himself up to shoot against halfway competent teams so I don’t know how to feel about it. Otoh he’s doing exactly what they need, winning headers, pulling defenders away and scoring some goals now.

Not sure what to think of him as a part of the USMNT striker pool, but the situations dire enough to justify looking at any application.

 

I believe only Barnsley has the 20 million option as negotiated in the loan deal. If a PL team comes in for him Orlando could ask for much more, and even in the PL there are only a handful of teams that have 20 mil to throw around like that. As much as I'd love to see him stay in Europe I still think theres a strong possibility he ends up back in Orlando.

 

⭐️ Team of the Week ⭐️

Your stars of the weekend! Powered by @WhoScored ratings 🔋#EFL | #SkyBetChampionship pic.twitter.com/xVuznp5sga

— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) March 7, 2021

Team of the week

 

Well it certainly is going to be an interesting litmus test for how Orlando values itself in the transfer market. Will they follow the NYRB, Philly, FC Dallas model of developing and then selling talent? Or will they be more protective like some other MLS teams.

Either way they are going to get some offers. He passes the eye test and has been scoring a variety of different ways. Hell I could see an Italian team loving his skillset.

 

I agree, there are going to be a lot of teams calling Orlando. Especially if he keeps these performances up. Question is whether Orlando will keep that high price tag on him or not. I think Dike will certainly have a say as well. If hes hell bent on staying in Europe and flexes the leverage he has, Orlando may just take the best offer on the table, which will likely be a lot less than 20 mil.

 

I think I read an interview with Barnsley’s American CEO where he indicated that if there was interest from PL teams at a number above the option price, that they would exercise the purchase option and sell Dike to the PL team at the higher price. I think the article was linked somewhere in this thread.

 

I think the general sentiment around the league has been a bit better. Teams seem to understand that the more success stories that MLS has, the higher the transfer fees the league can get.

Dike is going to be an interesting case study in the history of the league.

 

Barnsley would definitely have to get promoted in that scenario.

 

I actually have a friend who's homie is with Barnsley's FO.

They LOVE Dike. The team LOVES Dike. It's been a love affair throughout the loan.

Way better degree of separation than when I found out my old roommate gets drinks with Tomi Lahren a couple times a month (had to wash my mouth out when I heard that one)

 

Josh Sargent, Brenden Aaronson and Taylor Booth have all scored goals today but the best goal by an American this weekend remains Daryl Dike’s blast from Saturday. 🚀

pic.twitter.com/ifXUNKyURc

— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) March 7, 2021

Here’s a compilation of the goal on repeat with a fresh angle at the end of the clip that I think is the best one yet. Boomer.

 

For sure. They'll surely want Dike back, but the transfer fee will enable them to buy 2-3 very decent players who will have a bigger impact on the team than Dike will on his own.

 

I’m curious why you say that? To me it seems like they might decide to keep him if they get promoted, they’ll need him (or better players at least) in that case.

It seemed to me that the Barnsley CEO saw this loan as an opportunity like flipping a property in real estate terms. He could help them on loan and if he increased his value sufficiently in the shop window they could exercise the option and sell for a profit. Sort of like going long in the market I guess, but without any risk.

It seemed like at the time there was little to indicate Barnsley might be promoted. It seemed like it was a strategy to make a profit baked into their version of money ball.

 

Some serious ASMR vibes on that tweet

 

I believe a few pages back someone mentioned Barnsleys record signing was 3 million. I think they'd need that promotion money to afford him. Or I suppose they could throw all their eggs in one basket and only sign Dike in the summer window. And it's a risky bet, as teams may well be interested, but theres no guarantee they will come in with a massive bid like that. In the Covid era 20 million is a massive fee

 

They didn’t develop him. He’s not a homegrown like Adams or Aaronson or Reynolds. So to Orlando, he’s more like a stroke of luck than the culmination of years of work.

that’s not how it works in MLS, especially for draft picks.

 

Yeah it seems like any deal would need to make use of debt to finance the transaction. I agree it wouldn’t make sense/would be too risky if there was only general interest. I would assume the only way something like this works is that Barnsley would contract with the PL team to sell/buy and then access the debt and exercise the option.

 

Their CBs must be 6'4 or taller. Dike is listed at 6'2 and looks short next to them.

 

Yes it's all just pure coincidence that the BEST developer of young talent in the league (Oscar Pareja) picked a player that four teams passed over and turned him into the Rookie of the Year with a ~~~20 Million Dollar price tag. Dumb luck really.

 

They may not have developed him much, but it's also not a stroke of luck. It's a pattern they get production out of their draft picks. Whoever's made them the last few years has a good eye for talent.

It is more than it isn't these days. They have the impediment of a soft cap, but clubs keep almost all the transfers now - 100% for hg's, 95 for others. Also don't control how it's spent, outside cap confines. But they could sink 15 million into a couple dp's if they'd like. And especially during/around covid it will help to just have a buffer against losses.

 

Thought he was 6'1

 

Yep. Orlando City only has 2 DPs -- a 34 year old Nani, and Pereyra, who is on a one year deal, that may be buy downable.

So they have an open DP, and 1-3 open U22 Young Money DPs available. But in a year, they could have all of them open.

 

Dike is better than Jozy. That I agree with.