Arsenal are tracking Sergino Dest in view of a possible transfer for the defender in January with Barcelona weighing up the American’s future at the Camp Nou, according to Marca.
Dest only moved to Catalunya last year after leaving Ajax to replace Nelson Semedo, who had joined Wolves. The 21-year-old became Ronald Koeman’s first signing in charge of the La Liga giants at €21m (£18m), plus a further €5m (£4m) in add-ons, on a five-year deal.
But Dest has struggled to settle in Spain and is no longer Barcelona’s first-choice right-back after hiring Xavi Hernandez. The Blaugrana icon has instead favoured centre-half Ronald Araujo and also recently convinced Dani Alves to return to the club.
Barcelona now consider Dest a possible sellable asset in January in their continued bid to improve their finances. He is still young, so can still to grow, and is an international regular.
Add in he was a Koeman signing, Xavi is unlikely to oppose any transfer as he stamps his mark. Barcelona would, however, want €30m-35m (£25m-30m) to sell Dest next month.
Arsenal tracking Dest situation at Barcelona
Arsenal and Bayern Munich are tracking Dest’s situation at Barcelona ahead of the January transfer window. Neither side has yet made an approach, but retain at least some interest.
The Gunners had also examined a deal for the Almere, Netherlands-native in the summer. However, Sport noted Dest showed no interest in leaving Barcelona for Arsenal at the time.
Dest was instead focused on continuing to grow under Koeman, knowing he had the head coach’s support. Barcelona were also prepared to retain the 15-cap USMNT full-back and reject any advances from Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco.
Now, though, Barcelona are open to selling under Xavi, so Arsenal may seal a Dest transfer.
Dest has sky-high potential he can fulfil with Gunners transfer
Dest may also reconsider his position at the Camp Nou if Arsenal do target a transfer for the Barcelona defender. He has made 16 appearances this season, but only featured in three of seven games under Xavi. He has also only played 139 of a possible 630-minutes so far.
Yet the Gunners now have an established right-back in Takehiro Tomiyasu. So, Dest could face a similar fate and be a number two with a transfer to Arsenal as he does at Barcelona.
USMNT boss Gregg Berhalter is adamant Dest can have a big future in the game, though.
“Sergino is an interesting player because it’s almost like the sky’s the limit for him,” said Berhalter, via quotes by Goal this October. “He can be as good as he wants to be and you saw today with his attacking play. It’s unreal.”
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