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Sergiño Dest Joins PSV From Barcelona On Free Transfer
Barcelona and United States right-back, Sergiño Dest, has joined PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer, the Catalan club confirmed.
Barça will receive a percentage of any future transfer as part of the deal for Dest, whose contract with the La Liga side was due to expire next summer.
Dest was on loan at PSV last season, but the Dutch team decided against making the transfer permanent for €11 million ($11.9m) after he suffered a torn ACL in April.
However, discussions for a new cost-effective deal with Barcelona persisted, ultimately resulting in the announcement on Saturday that the U.S. international will permanently return to the Netherlands to further his rehabilitation.
Dest has signed a contract with PSV until 2028.
“First of all, PSV believes in me and I am greatly appreciated here,” Dest said. “I got to know the club and it is incredibly warm like I have never experienced anywhere before.
“Those are important aspects for someone in my situation and give me confidence that I can rehabilitate well here. I’m looking forward to getting minutes again, being important, and winning more titles.”
Barcelona had aimed to generate over €10 million from Dest’s departure this summer. However, his injury earlier in the year rendered this goal unachievable as his contract approached its expiration.
First, it was anticipated that he would face about a 10-month recovery period following surgery, causing him to miss the Copa América with the USMNT and keeping him off the field until February of next year.
Before his injury, he had impressed in his 37 appearances for Dutch champions PSV, but they were not willing to pay €11m for him once he was ruled out for so long.
Despite that, they always maintained an interest in bringing Dest back permanently.
“We have discussed it internally, but Sergiño convinced us so much last season that we did not want to miss the opportunity to sign him on a full-time basis,” PSV’s director of football Earnie Stewart said.
“He has so many qualities. The [injury] situation doesn’t change that. He played an important role in the 25th national title. His arrival is a very good start to the transfer window.”
Dest broke through at Dutch club Ajax before transferring to Barcelona for approximately €20 million in 2020.
During his first two seasons with the La Liga club, he featured in 72 matches. However, he subsequently embarked on two loan spells, firstly at AC Milan in Italy, where he participated in only 14 games, and then at PSV.
Born in the Netherlands, Dest is qualified to play for the USMNT due to his Surinamese-American father.
After playing for the U.S. at the youth level, he expressed his intention to represent the U.S. national team instead of the Netherlands in 2019.
He has since accumulated 33 caps for the USMNT and netted two goals.
