It was a very solid rumour and now it’s official. This Thursday, Futbol Club Barcelona has made official the signing of Sergiño Dest, a right-winger who arrives from Ajax of Amsterdam for a price of 21 million euros plus 5 million more in variables. He signs with the Catalan club until 2025 and his buy-out clause will be 400 million euros.
After selling Nélson Semedo to English side Wolverhampton, the Barça club needed a footballer to occupy the right defence position and compete with Sergi Roberto. The chosen one was Dest, only 19 years old, and Barça football's first signing of a United States player in its top level team.
Sense paraules... pic.twitter.com/1QwSAcmWA6
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) October 1, 2020
Dest's father is a US citizen of Surinamese origin while his mother is Dutch, and the 19-year-old arrives with the endorsement of coach Ronald Koeman, who has followed his career in the Dutch league. In fact, Koeman in his previous role as coach of the Netherlands national team tried to recruit him for his selection. Dest finally decided to represent the United States, a country which he had already played for at under-17 and under-20 levels and for whose absolute national team he has now made his official debut.
The new Dani Alves?
Following the departure of Dani Alves in 2016, Barça have been looking for a right winger who could emulate the Brazilian's offensive performance. Aleix Vidal went through the Camp Nou with more pity than glory, while Semedo has ended up wearing the Barça shirt for three years, but has never convinced. Thus, the right wing of the Catalan defence has ended up being occupied by Sergi Roberto, a midfielder who for years has been moved away from his natural positions.
Sergiño Dest playing with Ajax / EuropaPress
With Dest, Barça makes its umpteenth attempt to sign a right winger who can make the slot his own. And this time, while the price isn’t particularly high, it’s obviously risky. The former Ajax footballer has made himself the darling of half of Europe for his offensive skills and his ability to link up with teammates, but he only has one season at elite level behind him at Amsterdam (30 games, 22 as a starter) and has a lot of room for improvement.
Barça can, at least, boast of having beaten Bayern Munich in the race for the Ajax pearl. It doesn't quite count as revenge for the 2-8 drubbing, but at least it serves to add one further element in the essential reconstruction of the team. Eric Garcia and Memphis Depay could be next, if Barça manages to sell other members of the squad.