Dest faces an uncertain future at Barcelona

BARCELONA — The future of Sergio Dest at Barcelona is still up in the air after he was left out of the squad for the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in which Xavi Hernández’s team lost 3-2 against Real Madrid.

Sources close to the North American winger assure ESPN that Dest does not want to leave the Camp Nou during the winter market, but the Catalan club still do not dare to rule out his departure.

Bayern Munich, Chelsea and some other Premier League teams are attentive to his situation, and Barcelona are aware that his departure could help finance the arrival of the center forward that Xavi is asking for.

The Barça already fichado to Daniel Alves already Fernando Torres but Xavi would also like to reinforce the attack with a specialist for the ‘9’ position.

In this sense, after ruling out Edinson CavaniAlvaro Morata is still the priority but Juventus, where he is on loan from Atlético de Madrid, has already made it clear that he will not make his exit easy.

ESPN reported in December that Barça was open to hearing offers for Dest but the footballer still hopes to reverse the situation and convince Xavi that he deserves a place in his team.

However, the side’s environment believes that Xavi has not yet been able to see the best Dest due to the various physical problems he has suffered since the Catalan coach’s arrival on the Barcelona bench.

Dest, who also tested positive for COVID-19 in early January, is now fully recovered and looks fit to compete for a right-back spot with Alves, now 38, and academy player Oscar Mingueza.

Barça, for its part, seems to have different plans and, as ESPN revealed, wants to sign César Azpilicueta once his contract with Chelsea ends in the summer.

Emerson Royal and Arthur Melo have already experienced similar cases in the past. Both insisted in public and in private that they wanted to continue at Barcelona but ended up signing for Tottenham and Juventus, respectively, seeing that they did not fit into the Catalan club’s plans.

Barça won the battle against Bayern for the signing of Dest in 2020 after paying 20 million euros to Ajax for his transfer.

Different sources reveal to ESPN that the German club has kept in contact with the player since then and last summer tested the possibility of acquiring his services through a transfer that included a purchase option of close to 25 million euros.

Chelsea, which has lost for the long term to Reece James already Ben Chilwell due to injuries, he is also attentive to his situation since Dest can play both on the right and on the left.

In addition, the same sources slip that there are other Premier League teams interested while Atlético is also on the lookout due to the problems it is having to close the signing of the Valencian player Daniel Wass, the one chosen by the mattress club to replace kieran tripper.