Barnsley FC CEO Dane Murphy clarifies Daryl Dike situation

Dike, 20, who has joined the Reds on loan, earned his first cap for the Stars and Stripes against Trinidad and Tobago at the start of this week and it played a significant part in enabling him to fulfill immigration criteria to enable him to head to England.

Murphy told The Yorkshire Post: “It came up pretty late. The immigration policy has changed. Basically, he needed to enter the field for the US national team, so he could get in through immigration and he did that on Sunday night against Trinidad and Tobago. It was something (a move) we looked into, but did not really know if it was going to come off.

“The analysts knew who Daryl was and his data was through the roof and his playing exploits were so strong that we all felt it would be a good decision if we could bring him on and we were lucky to do so.

“He (Dike) is making his way here now and will do his immigration process at the border and then have a test and once that test comes back negative, he can be included in the group as he is going from bubble to bubble from the US national team bubble to the Barnsley Football Club bubble.

“Once he has a negative test and clears all immigration, he should be available.”

Meanwhile, Murphy has clarified speculation about the terms of Dike’s loan after Orlando EVP of Soccer Operations Luiz Muzzi said that the the player had to hit certain conditions or else the club could exercise the right to recall him.

Murphy also confirmed that the club do have an option to buy the player permanently, but said that some social media talk about him having an astronomical buy-out - there have been some references to $20million - is way off the mark.

He said: “I will not go into detail. Some of the numbers bring thrown around are just silly season. There is a buy option and Orlando wanted a recall option in there."

Confirming that the recall option is based on meeting appearance criteria, he added: “It is exactly that and nothing robust. They want to make sure he is there and getting games.

“It is a very minor recall option. If Daryl was to miss their pre-season and first part of the MLS season (it starts in April), they would like to know he is playing. It is an easy marker to hit. It is a move which benefits all parties involved.

“If he does really well, we will see where it goes.”