Confirmed: West Brom announce double blow ahead of Blackburn Rovers opener | OneFootball

West Brom will be without midfielder Tammer Bany and striker Daryl Dike for their opening game against Blackburn Rovers next Saturday.

West Bromwich Albion have confirmed that midfielder Tammer Bany and striker Daryl DIke are set for spells on the sidelines due to injury.

After a year of managerial instability that saw the departures of both Carlos Corberan and Tony Mowbray, West Brom missed out on the play-off places in the Championship last season as they recorded a disappointing ninth-placed finish, but they will be hoping a better campaign will be ahead under the guidance of new head coach Ryan Mason.

Mason departed his role as an assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur to take up his first senior managerial role at The Hawthorns in June, and he has been given strong backing in the transfer market this summer, with Nat Phillips arriving from Liverpool for £3 million, fellow defender George Campbell making a £1.5 million move from Montreal and striker Aune Heggebo joining from Brann for €5.5 million (£4.75 million).

There have also been some high-profile departures this summer, with Semi Ajayi, John Swift and Grady Diangana being released by the Baggies at the end of their contracts, but Mason will be confident that he has a squad capable of challenging for promotion next season.

Albion get their campaign underway when they host Blackburn Rovers next Saturday, but they will be without two of their attacking threats for the game after a frustrating update on the fitness of Bany and Dike.

West Brom dealt Tammer Bany and Daryl Dike blows ahead of Blackburn Rovers clash

Attacking midfielder Bany joined West Brom from Danish side Randers for a fee in the region of £3.3 million on the final day of the winter transfer window, but his time at The Hawthorns has been severely disrupted by injury so far.

Bany was limited to just four substitute appearances for the Baggies in the second half of last season due to hamstring problems, with the last of those coming back in early April, and while he would have been hoping to kickstart his Albion career in the new campaign, he has continued to struggle with injury over the summer.

Mason expressed his hope that Bany would not be out for long after he picked up another hamstring injury during pre-season, but the club have now confirmed that he will miss the start of the season as he begins his recovery.

Dike is another player who has been plagued by injuries during his time at West Brom, with the 25-year-old scoring nine goals and providing two assists in just 43 appearances since joining the club from Orlando City in January 2022.

The US international has missed much of the last two years after sustaining two serious Achilles injuries, but he made 11 appearances in the second half of last season after returning to fitness in February.

However, it seems that Dike's injury problems have resurfaced during pre-season, and the Baggies have revealed that, like Bany, he will also be unavailable for the opening weeks of the new campaign.

While West Brom have not put an exact date on when Bany and Dike will be able to make their comebacks, they have stated that the pair will "reintegrate into training after the September international break", meaning they will miss at least the first month of the season.

Fresh Tammer Bany and Daryl Dike update will frustrate West Brom supporters

West Brom supporters have not had the chance to see the best of Bany since his move to The Hawthorns in February, but while they will be disappointed by the news of his latest setback, they will likely be even more exasperated by Dike's injury.

Dike has proven himself to be a real threat at Championship level when fit, but he has been unable to stay out of the treatment room in recent years, and confirmation of his latest absence comes just a day after Albion's medical director, Tony Strudwick, claimed that the striker was "thriving" during pre-season.

In his final press conference before his sacking in April, Mowbray criticised Dike for his fitness levels and lack of commitment to training, and while those comments did not go down particularly well with the Baggies faithful at the time, they may now share some of the frustrations of their former manager.