FC Barcelona Announce First Team Transfer

FC Barcelona have announced a transfer out of Xavi Hernandez’s first team squad.

As revealed in an official club e-mail sent to members of the press early Monday morning, Sergino Dest has been loaned to PSV Eindhoven in his country of birth until June 30, 2024.

The Eredivisie giants have an option to buy the 22-year-old if all goes well, and were they do to so, Barca would then be entitled to a percentage of any future sale.

Though this wasn’t said in the short correspondence, Barca will still pay half of Dest’s salary and the purchase option is believed to be for €10 million ($10.9 million) according to SPORT.

Dest was bought from PSV’s rivals Ajax by the Catalans for a fee of €21 million ($22.9 million) plus €5 million ($5.4 million) in add-ons in 2020.

He was a request of Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman, who was Barca’s head coach at the time and previously tried and failed to convince him to represent the Oranje and not his father’s country the United States.

Dest made over 70 appearances in Blaugrana across his first two seasons but failed to convince Koeman’s successor Xavi Hernandez of his worth after Koeman was fired and eventually returned to the Netherlands national team fold.

The right back spent 2022/2023 on loan at AC Milan yet encountered mixed fortunes in Italy despite the Rossoneri’s surprise run to the Champions League semi-finals.

A long overdue social media post on Saturday from Dest, which was aimed at Milan and their fans, could have been taken as a “come and get me plea” after Xavi made it clear to the player he does not feature in his plans for their recently-started campaign.

Xavi took Dest to the United States on Barca’s preseason tour and told the youngster to prove to him that he was worthy of a place in his team.

This never came to fruition, with Barca continuing on their hunt for another right back which has led to them striking an agreement in principle for Manchester City star Joao Cancelo according to SPORT.

If PSV don’t buy Dest at the end of his loan spell, he will return to Catalonia once more with just 12 months to run on his original five-year contract.