Daryl Dike at West Bromwich Albion

I don't know that I've ever disagreed with you before, but he actively threw himself onto the ground. He may have gotten poked in the eye, but did that inactivate his legs? I don't believe he was shoved or off balance. He was trying to call attention to a face gouge by the defender and injured himself in the process. I love the kid, but that was inexperience on his part.

 

He hasn't made benches for Orlando since his return. They are taking it easier with his injury than the USNT did. That's absolutely the right thing to do.

I would actually ice him until the last few games to have him ready for the playoffs, because that's the only reason he would have been brought back.

Then hopefully for their and our sake they could reestablish his transfer fee of significantly over 10m. It may have went under after the injury and in turn poor performance at GC. Perception is reality.

They're never going to get 20m anymore. That ship sailed once he didn't shine in the promotional playoff.

Really have to accept 10-15 or best offer post this season and maybe wcq'ing for the US where he reestablishes GC wasn't a reflection of his ability.

The further he gets away from "being the best striker in the championship" the worse it's gonna be for his value at a point.

 

Shoulder ligament tears don’t heal, sadly. You either develop compensation from other muscles and tendons, or surgery. They may be in a period of “ watchful waiting”.

 

He reminds me a lot of Canada's Cyle Larin but with more of an upside.

 

I've torn both shoulder labrums and can confirm this. They are far from 100% even after surgery.

From what I can tell though, Dike's injury was to the AC joint (commonly referred to as a shoulder separation) rather than a labral tear. Those are painful and take a few weeks to heal, but usually don't have long term effects.

 

Is it true that you are them more likely to separate again

 

I'm sure his shoulder was scanned & if it was a torn ligament, or anything else that could have caused exacerbation w/ further stress; he wouldn't have played.

@SlyEli 's interpretation sounds more accurate. He said it hurt like hell. It was a matter of him being able to play thru the pain & have enough functionality. In retrospect he didn't/couldn't, so playing was counter-productive. But I doubt it was further damaging, otherwise USS were extremely reckless.

 

That's probably right, but a separated shoulder is different from a dislocated shoulder. The latter is what you think about when you see a guy getting his shoulder popped back into place. After that happens, it's likely to happen over and over again until you get it surgically repaired. This is what @m vann was talking about and what happened to me, the ligaments get loose/torn and the joint pops out repeatedly, causing more damage each time.

The mechanism of Dike's injury was typical of what you see with AC joint sprains. His shoulder was driven straight into the ground with a lot of force. Usually labral tears/separations happen when the arm is extended.

They never showed the trainers popping his shoulder back into place, but you could see Dike recoil in pain when the trainer touched the end of his collarbone close to the shoulder, where the AC joint is.

All of this is to say, I don't think we should be too worried. If it was a serious (grade 3) separation, he would've been held out of the remaining games. But even a grade 1-2 is really painful and usually keeps NFL players out for a couple weeks. Speaks to his toughness that he played through it, but it's no surprise he didn't look like himself after that injury. Glad that Orlando is letting him rest up.

 

With that shoulder, I'd be really hesitant to go play in the Championship again. He'd be dumped on his injured side every time he got the ball.

 

"One certainty is Daryl Dike won’t be participating {tonight} against Santos Laguna. The US men's national team forward, who recently won the Gold Cup, is sidelined with tendinitis and a shoulder knock he’s had for the last few games, Pareja said.

“We want to make sure he’s fully healthy because the competition, he was busy in the summer and before that as well,” Pareja said. “We want to take care of the player too and just give priority to his health.”

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/orla...ority-on-leagues-cup-in-chase-of-first-trophy

 

My adult son (who was a decent player) thinks Dike should be forced to play in a futsal league 3 days a week for a year. He thinks Dike would emerge a world-beater.

 

All players should be playing futsal as much as possible. Ronaldinho is the prime example. Watch some futsal highlights wherever you can. It's the best skill builder there is.

 

yeah i think futsal is great but it's most effective if he chose that willingly and at a much younger age

at this point i'd hope he takes some 1v1 training from Eddie Johnson to sharpen up and refine his existing abilities

 

I would like to see him go to WBA. Seems like a good situation with a manager that’s worked with him and wants him back. Additionally, WBA are an obvious contender to go back up.

 

Why on earth was Berhalter playing Dike while he was hurt? Just unbelievable.

 

I'm honestly surprised no options or interest from PL clubs. What happened to clubs from other leagues that were flirting with him just 3 months ago?

 

I think it has to do with what chrisdon72 wrote... GB played him while he was hurt in the GC and he was invisible. They should have replaced him after the Canada game... but I assume he wanted to play too.

 

Probably Orlando's asking price.. he might still get a loan out though.

 

But would his appearances in a B-list Gold Cup really have brought his value down?

I never understood clubs that inflate a player's worth by a few international matches vs their performances across a season. The latter is more relevant IMO.

 

Futsal helped my 6"5" son quite a bit even as a defender.

 

As soon as Orlando floated 20M i suspected this would happen. He came back to MLS scoring at a good clip & pretty dominant but…still not worth 20

The clubs which can afford that kind of transfer have already looked elsewhere for talent. Orlando need to be willing to accept 10-15M (or possibly less with sell-on fees & performance bonuses)

The initial asking has been far scarier than his slight dip in form @ GC

 

A tale as old as time.

Player plays well -> Club asks for way too much money -> Other teams balk at price -> Player's form dips/gets injured -> Club lowers asking price -> Other teams still don't want him -> Player stays in MLS/moves to much worse team than he could've

 

What was the medical thinking?

The player should always say “yes I want to play.” The coach should always hope to include the player. And the medical should be the guy who say, “I don’t know. Doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

...I would hope that Dike was evaluated and if deemed unfit, when an opportunity presented itself to replace him with no problem, Berhalter should have changed him out.