Barcelona to pay 40% of flop's wages AFTER transfer
Tom Weber
- Updated: 19 Aug 2023 11:30 BST
- 4 min read
Barcelona could be forced to pay a share of Sergino Dest's wages even after his transfer exit, according to Spanish media.
The US men's national team star is not part of head coach Xavi's plans, that much is clear. Plenty of hype surrounded the former Ajax man's €21 million move to the Camp Nou in 2020, but Dest has struggled to live up to expectations.
Xavi has been desperate to sign a right-back and he finally appears to have found his man in Manchester City's Joao Cancelo. His arrival would be the final nail in the coffin for Dest's short Blaugrana career, but the expectation is that he will already be gone by the time the Portuguese turns up in Catalonia.
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Indeed, Sport reports that Barcelona have given the right-back a maximum of three days to make his final decision on which club to join, with both PSV and Ligue 1 side Nice in talks to sign him.
Loan with an option to buy
Dest spent last term on loan at AC Milan, but repeated fitness issues restricted him to a measly 14 appearances. His next move will also be a loan, according to reports, and it will include a purchase option.
More interestingly, Barcelona could be forced to shoulder as much as 40 per cent of Dest's wages in the event of a deal with PSV being struck. Whether a similar agreement is part of the talks with Nice is not known.
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It is, of course, not unusual to see a parent club continuing to pay a loaned-out player's wages, but you would think that cash-strapped Barcelona would seek to negotiate a better deal for a player who evidently does not have a future at the club.
It will be interesting to see whether Dest can recapture some of the form that had made him such a sought-after commodity a few years ago at his next club.
