Manchester United and Chelsea have reportedly been left impressed by Barnsley’s on-loan United States forward Daryl Dike.
According to an exclusive report from TEAMtalk, Premier League giants Manchester United and Chelsea are keeping tabs on Barnsley striker Daryl Dike after being impressed by the youngster’s performances of late.
Dike came through the youth ranks at Oklahoma Energy FC in his homeland, USA and had a stint with Virginia Cavaliers before signing for MLS outfit Orlando City SC in January last year. The striker made a decent impression in his debut season, with a haul of eight goals and three assists from 22 games.
This past January saw Dike earn a loan move to Barnsley till the end of the 2020/21 campaign. Having joined up with the Tykes, the 20-year-old has made quite the impression already, banging in five goals in just 11 appearances in the EFL Championship, helping the club make a push for the promotion playoffs.
Dike’s progress in the second-tier hasn’t gone unnoticed with scouts from half the Premier League clubs watching the 20-year-old, who has two caps for the US Men’s National Team. Among the clubs keeping tabs on the forward are Manchester United and Chelsea, both of whom have been mighty impressed by him.
Manchester United, ever since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over the reins, have been more youth-centric in their transfer policies as has been seen from their recruitment of the likes of Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Amad Diallo, Facundo Pellistri along with a number of youngsters for the youth teams.
Dike, in that sense, would fit into that pattern while he could also go on to have a role in the first-team should Manchester United do sign him given as Edinson Cavani is facing an uncertain future at the club while the Red Devils are also considering offloading the profligate Anthony Martial.
Chelsea, meanwhile, could have centre-forward problems of their own heading into the summer as Olivier Giroud is 34 and in the final few months of his contract. In addition, Tammy Abraham has been linked with an exit of late after having fallen down the pecking order under Thomas Tuchel while Timo Werner has failed to fire as expected.
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The Blues have their sights set on former striker Romelu Lukaku as a transfer target for the summer. But signing someone like Dike, who could be a reliable understudy and gradually grow into the first-team role would be a wise move as well.
Apart from Chelsea and Manchester United, the likes of Everton, Leeds, Wolves, West Ham and Newcastle have also watched Dike, with the Toffees said to be the most interested in the 20-year-old. As for Barnsley, they do have the option of making his transfer permanent for £17 million but that is unlikely to happen if they fail to win promotion to the Premier League.
It now remains to be seen if either Chelsea or Manchester United act on their reported interest in the USMNT star come summer.
