USMNT winger Sergino Dest says his former FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez was not “honest” with him during their time together, speaking out about the club legend’s handling of his situation. The current PSV player, who played in Spain from 2020 to 2022, opened up about moving from Ajax to Barcelona in 2020 when Dutch manager Ronald Koeman was in charge, but then things changed in November 2021 when the Spanish side decided replacing him with the former midfielder.
When Xavi took charge of Barcelona, Dest’s minutes declined rapidly and he was forced to make two loan spells at AC Milan and PSV before joining the Dutch team permanently in the summer of 2024. Dest played 72 games for Barcelona in all competitions. , scored three goals and won the Copa del Rey in 2021. He is currently recovering from a knee injury he sustained in April 2024.
“I wouldn’t say I regret it because in the end it wasn’t something that depended on me, but I don’t feel like I had the necessary opportunities with Xavi. I felt like I had to play within the limits “I wasn’t myself. I wanted to join the attack because that is my greatest asset, but he asked me not to go up,” he said SPORT.
“I don’t think he was honest with me. We had several conversations where he told me one thing, but then I doubted whether it was really true. In the summer, before he went on vacation, he said to me: “I count on you, don’t read the press. “And as soon as I came back, he told me, ‘You have to go.'”
“It was an incredible and great experience. I will always carry Barça in my heart. It was a shame that it had to end like this because I felt I could still be useful to the club. But if a new coach arrives and his ideas, you can’t change them.”
“I arrived ‘flying’, I wanted to show what I can do, play… And individually I was doing well. But in the end I was new here, my teammates didn’t know me… In the end I have a style in which I often take risks with the ball, but here I was asked to play a different game. That made me lose some confidence in my decisions, doubts whether you should be yourself or change your playing style, and those doubts ultimately harm you. performance.”