They could probably get him for a pretty good price this summer. It wouldn't be the worst spot for him but I would like to see him get some more seasoning on a mid-table team in the BL or La Liga. Still pretty young so I am not sure why so many are down on him. It looks like he was overrated coming out of AJAX but was he supposed to decline the transfer fee and Barca? In hindsight it is easy to say he jumped up too far in level too quick but positives can be taken from his time in La Liga and Serie A. Hopefully he can find a mid-level team in a top 5 league, learn from his mistakes and take his game to the next level.
Dest turned 22 in Nov. This year - his "bad" year - he has 8 Series A, 4 CL, and 2 cup appearances, 632 mins of Club footie, including 90 v Chelsea and 90 v Lazio. And there was a little World Cup in there someplace. Overall he has 3500 La Liga mins at Barca. 1500 Ered minutes. 1400 CL minutes 1400 Eerste minutes 320 Serie A minutes 450 Euro League mins 160 CL Quali minutes And a bunch of Cups, National Team and U minutes. He's played well over 15000 minutes of competitive footie, at least 1/3 of that at around the highest level out there. While he's obviously hitting some obstacles to the next level now and the past season or two, there's not a lot to suggest he can't contribute plenty to the right team.
I don't think Dest is going to learn to defend. He needs to move to wing or wide forward, although he didn't show enough when Barcelona gave him chances to play up front. At this point I have no idea. The guy has technique, speed, and good ideas in attack, but he failed to 'gel' with other attackers and as a defender he's just too prone to errors (returning too late) and bad positioning. At this point I'd say he should try maturing in a good team from a weaker league. Those who said he left Ajax too early seem to be right.
Dortmund seems like it might be a good fit for him. They would appreciate his skill on the ball and don't appear to get too bent out of shape when one of their players has lapses on the defense side.
I dunno. Are you more likely to learn to defend at Ajax or at Barca and Milan? Probably upsides to any of those choices, but mostly you need to want to learn and certainly could at any of those clubs.
But he's had twice as many 1st team minutes at Barca than he had at Ajax, plus as many CL + Serie A minutes. Basically he's had 3x his Ajax minutes in some combo of CL/Serie A/La Liga at Barca and Milan (not even counting USMNT minutes) under the coaching of Koeman, Xavi and Pioli. At Ajax he would have had ten Hag, Schreuder and Heitigna - Erik and Jonny are good defensive coaches, of course, as is Ajax staff, but it's not like he traded Ajax for Danny's Pub Team. All 3 of those clubs have elite coaching, elite teammates and elite competition. If he wanted to learn to defend better there's plenty of opportunity at any of those clubs. The fault, dear Brutus, is not with his club choice...
Can't completely disagree, but he did - so the Education of Sergino Dest should have proceeded apace. Dest is a very good player, but he's not "naturally built" to be a back, and will need to develop a few more tricks of the trade. But no reason he can't. On the Ajax side, there's also no certainty he locks down the fullback roll. I suppose if Dest stayed, Maz was going to go earlier, but Rensch has been pretty good out there as well. There's tons of competition at any of these clubs.
Why was he a back to begin with? What's your position? Defense What's your biggest weakness? Defending Just never made sense to me.
he was a forward in his youth, but he has a lot of the skills of a modern wingback. He just never got particularly solid or big, and he needs more awareness to make up for this deficits. He’s a fine back, just maybe not a top CL type team back. I think he could do well in the midfield.
Ahhh so he started as a forward and was converted to back with the idea that he would grow into the role (both literally in size and figuratively as a defender). The growth hasn't been as expected. That makes sense.
I don't know first hand that was the thinking, and admit to not having been an Almere City youth team supporter when he was playing there, but I've seen reports that he started as a forward (which is not surprising, seems most very good field players started as forwards.) He was already moved to FB by the time he was 17, so it's like folks thought his speed and touch would translate well to WB/FB. And he seems to have filled out to a big shy of your ideal FB/Defender size. He has always felt a bit like, say, Bale to me - in that he might be more effective a bit further forward as that's where his instincts and skills seem to drive.
It feels like that's Dest's worst case career scenario - he can play on the wing at a pretty high level, I bet.
yeah but he doesnt really seem to have much end product - a winger without assists and goals.basically
^this^ Being an elite "modern" fullback is so difficult nowadays. Everyone expects them to produce on O but somehow, and often miraculously, be there on the back-end to stop counters. It makes no sense. When you play a style of O that has your fullbacks getting to the end-line w/ regularity then you have to expect someone else to cover for them if the ball is lost and countered quickly. I am not saying that Dest is w/o blame... heck, I am not even saying he has been all that good... but the expectations placed on fullbacks can be a little over the top at times. There are just not that many Davies-like players out there who can get caught up field and still have the wheels to get back. You also have to expect that when said player runs up and down the pitch for 70 minutes that they are going to be a bit gassed at the end of the game. I, for one, would hate to be a modern fullback. Dest got roasted (and now benched) for not being able to stop a two-on-one in his last start. Talk about scapegoating. Brutal, given how bad the rest of the D played that day.
To run out an overlapping back with consistent results you really need a cohesive team that can (and will) shift into an effective 3 naturally. Fulham do it pretty well, to point to one example I've noted lately. It's always easier to do when you're a BM/Ajax/PSV level team facing lesser comp more often than not. Harder to do in leagues with more parity. Not sure Dest has been in a line-up that really gave him the cover he needs since maybe Koeman. Now, whether Dest should need that much cover is a different story. But sometimes it's as much about fit as it is about specific ability (after a point) and also about knowing when to go and when to hold.
Ronald Koeman, once again coaching the Netherlands, comments on Dest: WHAT THEY SAID: Koeman, who was sacked as Barcelona boss in October 2021, has told Andy van der Meijde’s YouTube channel: “Dest isn’t any worse than Roberto. I didn’t understand him leaving.” "WHAT HAPPENED? The United States international moved to Camp Nou from Eredivisie giants Ajax in 2020, but struggled to convince those in Catalunya of his worth across 72 appearances at right-back. He was allowed to link up with the reigning Serie A champions as a result, but Koeman – who took Dest to Barca – believes the 22-year-old USMNT star remains a better defensive option for the Blaugrana than Sergi Roberto." https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/why...d-transfer-usmnt-defender/blte2921bd347ab1a38 If Sergi Roberto is the bar, then I agree.
Partly true, but Dest got a decent number of minutes at Barca even after Koeman was canned (when Dest wasn't hurt) - now, you could argue they couldn't bring in a replacement but Dest was injured a fair bit in 21-22, and while Alves was no spring chicken, Dest got the start over him a few times when healthy, and also filled in for Alves or Alba when either was out a few times, so yeah, you could probably rightly say he was generally 3rd choice FB to Alves and Jordi Alba... but that's still not exactly chopped liver. But for sure Koeman had (and has) more belief in Dest than any of his coaches since.
One of our more consistent and dangerous players at the World Cup, so if anything “pains me” is that his last two managers don’t know his “worth”. Hope he finds a solid home this summer. Suggestions from pundits aim for a move to Marseille.