Dest se enroca

An hour of play in a friendly against Boca Juniors is the time that Sergiño Dest accumulates on a pitch in the last month of the season. The performance of the American against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, during the 45 minutes he was on the field before being substituted at half-time, and a defeat that would ultimately cost the Blaugrana team the elimination of the maximum continental competition, was the sentence for the side culé. Since then, Xavi Hernández has almost completely dispensed with the American, who despite contracting COVID at the end of December, was already a substitute against CA Osasuna on matchday 17 – the Blaugrana coach lined up three central defenders – and against Granada CF, giving the alternative to Dani Alves, already registered in the first team. Nevertheless, Dest does not throw in the towel. And it is that, according to point from ESPN, the 21-year-old footballer hopes to turn the situation around and ends up staying at FC Barcelona.

There are several teams that have asked the Catalans about the North American due to the delicate situation that Can Barça is experiencing due to the lack of opportunities. But from this medium they insist that Dest “hopes to stay at Camp Nou beyond the January transfer window and prove his worth”. Since he arrived at the club last year, the young culé winger has played a total of 57 official matches with Barça –41 in the 2020/2021 season–. Even before Xavi Hernández took charge of the Blaugrana bench, Dest started in 14 of the 16 games played this season, almost all of them with Ronald Koeman at the helm of the team. But nevertheless, the arrival of the culé legend on the bench, as well as the signing of Dani Alves – who started in the last three games against Linares Deportivo (Copa del Rey), Granada (LaLiga) and Real Madrid (Supercopa de España) – has drastically changed the player situation. That is why, despite the fact that “he is determined to fight for his position”, an exit is not ruled out.

In ESPN They also report that from the club, “they refuse to rule out an exit this month”, since “his departure could help finance the signing of a new striker”. Sergiño Dest, who was already put on the transfer list during the month of December, is one of the main targets of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, in addition to Bayern Munich. In the case of the London team, the numerous casualties suffered in defense during the last month of competition have forced the Stamford Bridge team to jump into the winter transfer market with the urgent need to incorporate a full-back. While Reece James suffered an injury on the right that will keep him out of the game for some time, the German coach only has Marcos Alonso on the left-hand side due to Ben Chilwell’s serious injury. And it is that the English international will be out for the rest of the season due to his problems in the cruciate ligament of the knee.

Similar cases

FC Barcelona invested 20M euros in the signing of Sergiño Dest. A project with a great future that came from shining at Ajax and was already established in the United States national team, despite his young age. However, Dest could end up taking the same path as other former players from the culé squad who, although they also arrived as proven players who could settle in the first team in the short-medium term, ended up leaving through the back door. These are Emerson Royal and Arthur Melo. As pointed out ESPN, both Brazilian soccer players, 23 and 25 years old respectively, headed to Tottenham and Juventus from Turin for 25 and 72M euros, despite the fact that there were high hopes placed on both signings. And it is that the intention of both players was also to stay and shine with the Barça shirt. The same thing that is happening right now to Dest.