Sergiño Dest: Ex-Barça coach Xavi was dishonest

Sergiño Dest has said former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández was not honest with him after leaving the club for PSV Eindhoven on a permanent deal earlier this year.

The 23-year-old joined Barça from Ajax in 2020 when Ronald Koeman was still the manager but found first-team opportunities hard to come by after Xavi was appointed in 2021.

The United States full-back said Xavi didn’t give him enough opportunities to prove himself, restricted his playing style and went back on promises he had made to him.

“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,” Dest told Diario Sport of his four years as a Barça player.

“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, but he had previously made a promising start to life at Barça.

Under Koeman, he 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, but he has his sights set on returning to one of Europe’s top leagues in the future.

“I am really happy and grateful to be at PSV, but I am ambitious and of course I would like to play in one of the big five leagues in Europe again,” he said.

“I think I am good enough to. With hard work and consistency I think I can achieve it, no doubt. I don’t know what will happen, but I would like to return to LaLiga in the future.”