Carlos Corberan weighing up Daryl Dike West Brom involvement against Stoke
Carlos Corberan will decide tomorrow whether to hand Daryl Dike a return to league action with Albion.
The striker had not featured for the first team since the opening-day draw at Middlesbrough, where he was a late substitute, and subsequently sustained a serious thigh injury in training.
The 22-year-old £7million January signing returned to full training last week and played 45 minutes for the under-21s on Monday, watched by Corberan.
Albion host Stoke tomorrow in their final fixture before the four-week World Cup break and Corberan and his staff will analyse how Dike has reacted to training on Wednesday and Thursday.
The head coach said: “After this game, he had to recover the next day because he is one player where we have to follow specific protocol, to try and avoid injuries because we know he hasn’t played many games from since he signed for the club.”
“He’s one player we are going to manage well, however we can, which will allow us to increase his performance, especially his physical performance, without putting at risk his continuity and avoiding any kind of injury.
“He has had a good reaction after the game Monday, in terms of the physicality, and we will see on Friday if he can train, or if we understand that it’s better if we keep his levels. This is one decision we need to make.”
Dike was this week, as expected, left out of the United States squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Defender Semi Ajayi is another key Albion player near the end of his rehabilitation but is not quite ready to feature.
The Nigerian has been out since the end of August with an ankle injury which required surgery.
“Right now, the player in front in terms of his recovery is Dike, because he has had more time to make the recovery,” Corberan said. “The other players need to wait, they need more time before they are ready to help the team.”
Striker Karlan Grant injured his ankle in the 1-0 victory over Blackpool two Tuesdays ago and has made good progress in his comeback.
“Very positive, he’s reduced the timing,” said the head coach. “He’s had a high reduction of the timing of the injury. He was working with a lot of concentration to try and recover as fast as he can to help the team. We are happy with his process.”
