USMNT’s Sergino Dest Joins AC Milan on Loan From Barcelona

The 21-year-old right back made 72 appearances for Barcelona over two seasons but did not feature in La Liga under Xavi this season.

U.S. international Sergiño Dest is trading red and blue stripes for red and black after leaving Barcelona to join AC Milan on loan.

After spending the last two seasons at the Camp Nou, the 21-year-old American is heading to the Serie A champions for the rest of the season with a reported $20 million option to buy. Dest was also linked with a move to Villarreal and Manchester United—the latter is managed by his former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag—but it was Milan that won out. 

With Barcelona, Dest made 72 appearances across all competitions for Barça and won the Copa del Rey in 2020–21. However, reports in Spain claim that Dest fell out of Xavi’s favor, and he was not named in any of the squads for Barcelona’s three La Liga games so far this season.

Since his U.S. men’s national team debut in 2019, Dest has made 17 appearances for Gregg Berhalter and played a key role in helping the U.S. qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

“To go from Barcelona to AC Milan is not bad, right?” Berhalter told reporters on Monday. “Serie A is a competitive league. You got to defend really well in the Serie A, and it’s going to help him. It’s not nice when you’re told that you don’t have a spot in the group. And Sergiño is a guy that I know believes in himself and believes that he could keep fighting through it. But I guess this opportunity came up that he thought was good for him.”

Dest’s loan marks another big American name on the move during a busy summer for USMNT players, which continued on Wednesday with Ricardo Pepi’s loan from Augsburg to Groningen in the Netherlands. 

Brenden Aaronson and Tyler Adams both joined Jesse Marsch at Leeds, while three of the U.S.’s goalkeepers have moved as well, with Zack Steffen being loaned to Middlesbrough from Manchester City, Matt Turner joining Arsenal on a full transfer and Ethan Horvath going on loan to Luton Town from Nottingham Forest. 

Meanwhile, World Cup hopefuls Jordan Pefok (Union Berlin), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo), Haji Wright (Antalyaspor), Matthew Hoppe (Middlesbrough) and Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic) secured permanent transfers to new clubs, while Malik Tillman (Rangers) left Bayern Munich on loan. 

One player who appears to be staying put, however, is Christian Pulisic, with Chelsea reportedly denying the player a summer move despite his wish to secure more playing time.