Sergino Dest’s breakout season for club and country has one of Europe’s top sides taking notice.
The U.S. Men’s National Team and Ajax right back is reportedly being monitored by Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf. Bayern Munich made a €20 million offer for Dest earlier this season, but Ajax declined the offer.
Dest has taken his first full senior season by storm for Ajax, totaling 26 appearances in all competitions. He’s scored two goals, registered six assists, and made eight appearances including his debut in the UEFA Champions League.
The 19-year-old lifted the Dutch Super Cup back in August over rivals PSV and will also appear in the UEFA Europa League later this month against La Liga side Getafe.
Dest has not only starred for the Eredivisie leaders, but he’s also begin his international career with the USMNT. After appearing in a pair of friendlies in October against Mexico and Uruguay, Dest committed his future with the USMNT over the Netherlands.
He appeared in Gregg Berhalter side’s 4-1 Concacaf Nations League win over Canada back in October in Orlando and should be in the running for more appearances this calendar year. The team returns to action in March in friendlies against Wales and the Netherlands away from home.
Should Dest make a move to Bayern in the future, he would become the first American player to play for the first team since Julian Green in 2016-17.
U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team prospect Chris Richards is currently with Bayern Munich’s U-23 side while Taylor Booth has made 12 appearances with Bayern’s U-19 team. German-American Malik Tillman is also working his way through the youth ranks at Bayern.
Dest’s domestic season with Ajax continues this weekend as Ajax visits FC Utrecht on Sunday. Erik ten Hag’s side are three points clear at the top of the Eredivisie table with 13 matches remaining.
While the interest is nice….I personally would prefer to see him either stay with Ajax another year or so, or go somewhere he’s a more likely to see consistent minutes. Not that I don’t believe he’d get minutes, just think there are better situations.
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Would love to see him join Adams at Red Bull or Reyna with BvB…where he’d have a great opportunity to improve his partnership with another USMNT player.
Like Chris Richards?
Remember that a longstanding cynical Bayern tactic is to buy up opposing players, without necessarily letting them play. It’s good if Dest is gaining recognition, but surely he could do better than *kotz* Bayern.
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Dest should just keep on playing well and increase the number of already eager suitors.
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In my alter world, I want Dest to be bought by Barcelona, learn the way the team plays for about 6 months and start as RB. A few months later he is joined by De La Fuente as a RW. dream complete.
Excellent but not surprising…. I doubt Bayern are alone. Kid is on a great trajectory for a young fullback.
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On a tangential note, I think it’s interesting to note that the starting XI we last took the field at a World Cup had a combined valuation according to transfermrkt.com (I know I know, it’s hardly perfect) of ~$35 million, as I recall. This was notable as it was less than the estimated single-player value of almost everyone in the Belgium side.
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On that note, what do people think will be the combined market value of our starting XI in 2022 (again, assuming we don’t crap the sheets again)? Some optimists might suggest $150-200 million…. curious what people would suggest (and yes, I’m aware aggregate player valuations don’t ensure a good team)?
I think Pulisic cost Chelsea about $70 million, Brooks was valued at about $20 million and I think Weah cost Lille something like $10 million. So, there’s $100 million right there. kAdd McKennie and Adams and that’s probably another $20 million or so. A future team could end up being worth $200 million or more when you consider guys like Dest, Gio Reyna, Llanez and others (Sargent if he improves a bit and the young guys like Richards and the the other young guns in Holland).
By the end of the 2019-2020 Season the top talent of the USMNT is likely to be valued somewhere around ~$140M:
Pulisic – $70, Brooks – $20, Adams – $15-20, McKennie – $10-15, Weah – $10, Dest – $10, Reyna – $5-8,
If you consider the rest of the player pool and place an average value of $2.5 M per player we’d be looking at a team valued at ~180M right now.
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However, there are a number of talented players who are on the brink of breaking out with quality clubs known for developing talent (Reyna included). If they do break-out their value could skyrocket very quickly…
Ledezma, Mendez, Gloster, Llanez, Richards, De La Fuente, Otasowie, Vassilev
Many of these players have already been targeted by clubs for possible purchase.