Sergiño Dest has claimed former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández was not honest with him after leaving the club for PSV Eindhoven on a permanent deal earlier this year.
Tipped as the next big thing, Dest joined Barcelona from Ajax in 2020 when Ronald Koeman was still the manager. However, he found first-team opportunities hard to come by after Xavi was appointed in 2021.
Dest has now insisted that Xavi didn’t give him enough opportunities to prove himself, restricted his playing style and went back on promises he had made to him.
Sergino Dest of PSV (Photo by Photo Prestige/Soccrates/Getty Images)
The 23-year-old told Diario Sport of his four years as a Barça player: “I wouldn’t say regrets, because how it ended didn’t depend on me, but I don’t feel I had the necessary chances with Xavi.”
“I felt like I had to play with limits; that I could not be myself. I want to join the attack, which is my biggest strength, but he asked me not to go forward.
“I don’t think he was honest with me, either. We had several conversations in which he told me one thing but after I had doubts whether he really told me the truth.
“In the summer [of 2023], before going on holiday, he told me: ‘I am counting on you, don’t read the press.’ And as soon as I returned, he told me: ‘You have to go.'”
Dest spent the 2022-23 season on loan at Italian side AC Milan and last year at PSV before re-joining the Dutch club permanently this past summer.
Under Koeman, Dest was a regular in the side which won the Copa del Rey in 2021, but he ended up losing confidence under Xavi.
“I was flying when I arrived,” he added. “Things went well on an individual level. But in the end, I was new here, my teammates didn’t know me…
“My style is to take risks with the ball but I was asked to play differently. That made me lose some confidence in my decision-making, you doubt whether to be yourself or change your style. Those doubts damage your performances.”
Dest is currently sidelined with an ACL injury and expected to return to action in the new year.
