Barcelona v Real Madrid in Spain’s Supercopa (semifinal) today at 2:00 PM (eastern). Playing in Saudi Arabia. Dest is not in the squad.
Should we take anything from his absence? The transfer rumors have died down a bit. Unless they are just letting him head to the States a bit early to get ready for the next round of WCQs. There's just one league game between now and then anyway.
I saw on Twitter (so take with many grains of salt) that SD was considering accepting a transfer after PSG showed interest Mostly I think he just started training again after injury and COVID so he may not be game fit yet.
He's been in the squad in prior matches since the COVID issue, so I don't know if it's that. It's either an injury, Xavi doesn't need him, or maybe a loan deal being worked out. Do we have any evidence that he made the trip to Saudi Arabia?
From my outsider’s perspective, and assuming fitness/Covid concerns are behind us, Barcelona may be applying some pressure. I would think Barcelona and (say) Chelsea could come to terms fairly easily - it’s only money, Chelsea’s got it and Barcelona needs it. The sticking point may be Dest’s agreement, and keeping him off the field is a tactic that might steer him in the right direction.
Personally, I would jump at a semester abroad in London (or Paris), but Dest thinks of Barcelona as home, a destination, not merely a stepping-stone to something better. Assuming there’s a big demand for Dest - and I do - then he should be able to leverage himself into a nice new contract at another top club.
Yes, he's in a few of these photos of their morning warm-up session today: https://www.fcbarcelona.com/en/football/first-team/news/2445255/morning-warm-up-session I also saw a video clip on Barcelona's twitter showing him walk into the stadium with several other teammates. It's a bit weird that he's a total scratch since I doubt they would be limited on the subs bench in a glorified exhibition like this. There was no mention of a pre-game injury, so who knows.
So soon (prospectively) this kid, at only 21 years of age, will have already been a starter at Ajax, Barcelona and either PSG, Chelsea or Bayern Munich in his career? Simply Unreal.
Was cleared to rejoin the squad Friday, IIRC, made the bench Saturday but DNP. Hasn't played since mid-December I think.
ET for the super cup RN. Barca down twice but come back to tie it. At this point this display just extended Xavi's shelf life.
Barca ended up losing in ET - that's like 5 straight loses to RM, I think. But the fight-back will give Xavi a little leash, I think. But it's gonna be a tough year or so for Barca.
Well if they are trying to force him to take a transfer, I hope they took into account that he'll likely have a Dutch attitude about it, i.e. perfectly happy to exercise his contractual rights and if you want a change you can pay for it. Also, not playing me doesn't bother me because I know that I'm right and you're stupid, and I will be glad to tell you so.
I used to do a lot of training courses in the Netherlands and this made me LOL. Over time I came to appreciate the norm of cheerful bluntness. Though it can be a bad thing when paired with intellectual hubris of the “I am sure I have thought of everything and don’t need anyone else’s input” variety. That’s the recipe for big mistakes.
This is along the lines of my initial thoughts when learning he was not in the 18. If the reports are accurate, Barcelona are willing to sell Dest, but he and his agent want to stay. This may be a maneuver by the club to send a message. But, it's mere conjecture at this point.
Barca is not un-used to negotiating with the Dutch. Dest has shown himself to be fairly stubborn and not lacking in confidence, even for Dutch standards, so it may be an interesting dance.