USMNT’s Sergino Dest says Xavi was not ‘honest’ with him during FC Barcelona stint

USMNT winger Sergino Dest says his former FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez was not “honest” with him during their time together, taking a jab at the club legend’s handling of his situation. The current PSV player, who played in Spain from 2020 to 2022, opened up about the move to Barcelona in 2020 from Ajax, when Dutch manager Ronald Koeman was in charge, but then things changed in November 2021 when the Spanish side decided to replace 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 at PSV before joining the Dutch team on a permanent basis in the summer of 2024. Dest played 72 games for Barcelona in all competitions, scoring three goals, and won the Copa del Rey in 2021. He’s currently recovering from a knee injury he suffered 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 limits, that I wasn’t myself. I wanted to join the attack because that’s my greatest attribute, but he asked me not to go up,” he told 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 going on holiday, he told me, “I’m counting on you, don’t read the press.” And as soon as I got back, he told me, ‘You have to go.’”

“It was an incredible and wonderful experience. I will always carry Barca 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 when a new coach arrives and has his ideas, you can’t change them.”

“I arrived ‘flying’, I wanted to show what I can do, play … And things were going well for me on an individual level. 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 about whether you should be yourself or change your style, and those doubts end up harming your performance.”