Sergino Dest will reportedly head back to Barcelona as he begins his rehabilitation spell following a torn ACL.
PSV has declined Dest’s purchase option from Barcelona, ESPN reported Friday. Dest was linked with a potential permanent move to Eindhoven following a successful loan spell there this season, but his April injury ruled out that opportunity.
Dest, 23, is set to miss the remainder of 2024 due to his injury, forcing him out of Copa America involvement this summer with the U.S. men’s national team.
The versatile fullback scored two goals and added seven assists in 37 combined appearances for PSV this season. Dest, alongside international teammates Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi, helped PSV win the Eredivisie title this season and reach the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
PSV will be headed back to the UCL next season after winning the league title, while Dest and Tillman head back to their respective parent clubs (Barcelona and Bayern Munich).
Dest’s Barcelona contract is set to expire in June 2025, opening the door to a potential transfer away from Spain during the January Transfer Window.
Dainja,
Key phrase: ” if not for”.
@ Vacqui, SBI commenters rate the Eredivisie lower than some leagues because right footed Sergino started the whole season at LB. This strategy is used in the MLS, Danish Supelaigen, Allsvenskan, Jupiler league, JLeague, & the A league. Even the Saudi league has lefties playing LB. It’s not because US fans are less than smart, or not intelligent. It’s because Dest didn’t play at Barca unless Koeman (HC of the Orange Crush Dutch) was the coach. Loaned to a Serie A club and couldn’t beat out Kalulu for the backup RB spot. Goes to the New York Yankees of the Netherlands and a he’s starting playing his worst position?! Seems to me, people are being less cult of personality and more realistic. Dest is a tiny guy. Talented but tiny. At 5’6” he gets pushed around by physical players like Jack Grealish for example. He rarely uses his left foot for passing. At least, after this season, I can say his left foot is used for scoring as well as his dribble cadence.
IOK2T,
Okay, I’ll play.
Dest played only 4 games for the USMNT that meant anything. All of them were in Qatar.
Three of them were very good and the one vs. the Netherlands, I assume he was gassed by then like all the other starters. The Netherlands had him in particular and the USMNT in general all figured out. Dest had a not great game.
Three out of four is not bad. Which sums up the USMNT under Gregg, not great or even good but not bad all things considered
Since the start of Gregg’s reign anyone else who has played right back for the USMNT has sucked. I say bring back Nick Lima and Lynden Gooch and let them fight it out. Hopefully Gregg will rig some kind of solution for Copa America. Maybe JS will figure it out.
“Dest is a tiny guy. Talented but tiny. At 5’6” he gets pushed around by physical players like Jack Grealish for example.”
?? Tiny? He’s approximately the same size as Philip Lahm. Look him up. Lahm wasn’t too bad. Grealish “pushes around” a lot of players who are better than Dest.
Dest is not a top class player but neither is anyone else on the USMNT.
Assuming he comes back to his pre-injury form, he remains our best right back.
A cruciate ligament tear is not a joke.
It’s possible that Dest will never come back to his previous best, that his career at the upper levels is over, forever.
Which is why PSV, not the richest club in the world , won’t take a chance him. Then again neither will anyone else. PSV is gambling that they can probably pick him up later for cheap.
I thought DeMarcus Beasley would get pushed around like crazy at LB. He may weigh even less than Dest. He certainly held his own, however. I think speed is more important at LB and RB and height is more important at CB.
Their loss….and it will be a big loss for them. Easily one of the best players, both technically, skillfully and tactically, on the team. ACL’s heal with time…
Bizzy: it’s not that they don’t rate him. If they can wait until January they can sign him for 25/26 for no transfer fee. Earnie knows they aren’t going to be able to win CL next year and without Dest they are still heavy favorites to win the Eredivisie. It’s a gamble but they’ve got bigger holes to fill with their limited money. Chucky is on his way out and they’ll want to resign Tillman, those are bigger needs.
Keeping it 100, I’d love to see him in Serie A. There are quite a few teams who play with three in the back using wing backs. He would be an immediate upgrade at Juventus with Cambiaso on one side and Sergenio on the other.
Considering the severity of the injury, I suspect that before he is sold, he will be loaned out again for rehab and then, hopefully, some playing time. If he can come back, then Barcelona will get more for him than they would get now.
Makes economic sense for them. Way pay for a player you can’t use for 4 months if you don’t have to.
Colllllld move from PSV there. I can’t help but think they would’ve signed him if not for the ACL tear.
Dainja,
Key phrase: ” if not for”.
This strikes me as pretty basic horse-trading. PSV absolutely wants Sergino Dest, and Barcelona absolutely needs to clear the books on Sergino Dest…the problem is, Dest’s blowing out a wheel just before the end of the season also reduced his market value. PSV’s obvious fear in declining the agreed-upon option price on him is that somebody from a Top-5 league or worse, Ajax (who has close to double the salary budget of PSV) would grab him, but now that Dest is looking at rehabbing until probably the first of the year, that risk plummets. So PSV is now sending him back to Barcelona, basically, with “not at that price” scribbled in the margin of the option contract.
And over the summer – and maybe longer – they’ll dicker back and forth, and PSV will likely end up saving a few million. But I’d still take heavy odds Dest ultimately does wind up back with PSV in the next few months. They know how important he was to them.