Daryl Dike burned brightly, brilliantly and all-too briefly at Barnsley.
Five months, 22 games, nine goals. The American was a sensation in South Yorkshire but, following Saturday’s play-off semi-final defeat to Swansea City, it seems the time has come to say goodbye.
Dike’s parent club, Orlando City, are demanding an eye-watering £17 million for a striker born in Oklahoma but made at Oakwell.
Even if Barnsley had gone up, securing Premier League football for the first time since the turn of the century, it was always unlikely the Tykes could have financed a permanent move for a powerhouse centre-forward with plenty of admirers higher up the metaphorical pyramid.
At the end of March, TEAMtalk reported Newcastle, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds had all expressed interest.
Dike is also high on Everton’s radar, having been compared to one-time Toffees talisman Romelu Lukaku thanks to his fearsome mix of searing pace, raw power and thunderbolt finishing.
“There are enormous suitors looking at him,” Barnsley chief executive Dane Murphy said a few weeks ago.
“He has the world in front of him.”
They’re an honest, down-to-earth bunch at Barnsley.
And while some still hope the 20-year-old will stick around to help Valerien Ismael’s overachieving side go one step further in 2021/22, there’s a nagging feeling that, deep down, Barnsley have seen the last of Daryl Dike.
It was good while it lasted.
Here’s what some Barnsley fans on Twitter had to say about the situation:
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