Barcelona showed the signing of US foreign side Sergio Dest from Ajax. The 19-year-old joined the club on a five-year, $24. 5 million contract, with about $6 million in add-ons later.
Without delay, he will challenge a position in the first team and deserves to start the games as soon as possible, as the player of the application and, infrequently, the right-back, Sergi Roberto, occupied the position in the opening of barca’s season: a 4-0 home win against Villarreal. .
Among the groups interested in Dest’s signing was the German champion FC Bayern, a club that has already had great luck in transforming a young back with great potential into a star player in the form of Canadian left-back Alphonso Davies.
Concrete ties to the Bavarians emerged in February and have continued ever since. A step to Bayern seemed like an absolute gain at one point, and Dest’s signing would complete the symmetry on the flanks for the European champions, but Barcelona was the biggest draw for the American looking to play in the League, and for Barca in particular. .
The Catalan club has long hunted this dominance of the team. The sale of Portuguese right-back Nelson Semedo to Wolverhampton Wanderers of the previous English Premier League in the play window leaves the door open for Dest to make his right – backing up his.
One of the greatest exciting opportunities for Dest, at least this season, will be the prospect of teaming up with Lionel Messi.
Each edition of Messi can arouse the admiration of an audience by passing between goalscorer, game creator and unstoppable dribble, but possibly the maximum productive production and the maximum full edition of the Argentine, which highlighted him as one of the highest productive in playing the game, was the one who worked in tandem with the Brazilian right-back Dani Alves. Messi likes to play alongside an offensive right-back who also has the ability to link the game.
At this stage, comparisons between Dest and Alves are made in terms of their football point of view, but can be done in terms of style.
Dest was born in the Netherlands in the city of Almere, near Amsterdam, but is eligible to play in the United States thanks to his Surinamese-American father.
He is an American foreigner who trained in holland, and rather from the point of view of Barcelona, at Ajax, a club to which the Azulgranas have borrowed during their maximum success and emblematic times.
The new Barcelona coach and former player, Ronald Koeman, spent the last two years as head coach of the Dutch national team and sought to make Dest part of his team of national team.
There was a time when Dest refused the United States and Holland to make sure he made the right decision, once he made a decision, to opt for the hosts of the 2026 World Cup, Dest with all his might.
“I am pleased to announce that I have made the decision to continue betting for the U. S. men’s national team,” Dest said before being called up for his first competitive USMNT games.
“Of course it was a complicated resolution for me when the Dutch men’s national team showed interest, but I’ve built a very clever feeling with the US team. But it’s not the first time For the past two years and I am firmly in the projects and perspectives of the United States. .
“So I’ve decided to make the next 10 to 15 years a wonderful good fortune and I’ll do everything I can to help the team win titles. “
He also had the courtesy and professionalism to personally inform Koeman of his resolution before it was made public.
“I informed national team coach Ronald Koeman because I have a lot of respect for him and he didn’t need to be informed by the press,” Dest added.
“He told me that he was disappointed, but that he respected my choice. “
This will have inspired Koeman, and as coach who has already tried to win Dest’s for one of his teams, and already knowing the character of the player, he would have had no doubt when the option of signing him for Barcelona would have arisen. .
Dest signed his first professional contract with Ajax in December 2018 while still in the ranks of his academy, Jong Ajax. The following summer, he competed in the United States at the U-20 World Cup in Poland as a member of a team full of exciting technical players. who are giving hope for the Senior World Cup at home in 2026.
During this World Cup, Dest shared with the existing Barcelona singer Konrad De La Fuente, whose call-up was in and around the first team of Camp Nou the pre-season.
The following season was a wonderful progress season. If he had been thrown into the spotlight of Ajax’s first team, he had already been asked to take the next step, and a wonderful one.
Even before taking up the position at Camp Nou, Koeman saw a long career for Dest in Barcelona, noting at Catalunya Radio that: “Dest is a player of clubs like Barcelona. He’s an offensive end, very fast and smart with the ball. . Dest adapts to any club.
Everything has fallen into place, both for the player and the coach, however, they sign up for the club in a moment of wonderful crash scenes. It’s Koeman’s job to make sure his players are as affected as possible, and it’s Dest’s job to endorse his right-back position through smart performances. Given his talent, there’s no explanation as to why he can’t.
From America to Africa, I make canopy football all over the world for Forbes. My training day reports on english Premier League teams Liverpool, Everton
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