West Ham United want to sign Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest
West Ham are interested in signing Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest this summer after his failed loan move with AC Milan, according to 90min.
Dest joined the Serie A champions on loan last summer but has made just two starts in the league and was left out of their Champions League squad for the knockout stages.
That means they are unlikely to trigger the £17.5m option they have to make the loan permanent, but Barcelona are still keen to offload to USA international defender and the Hammers are one of several clubs interested in doing a deal.
The report (27 March) claims that West Ham will be competing with Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Valencia, Sevilla, Union Berlin, Lyon, Crystal Palace and Wolves for the signing.
Barcelona signed Dest from Ajax in a deal worth around £22m including add-ons, but the Spanish club would likely accept £18.5m as that is the sum they paid up front initially.
Athlete
Dest is an interesting prospect because he remains just 22-years-old but he has played regularly in Europe for years.
Having played for Ajax, Barcelona and AC Milan, albeit sporadically, he has got plenty of top-level experience and can surely only get better as he plays even more.
However, West Ham would certainly provide a great platform for him to rebuild his career after it stagnated in recent seasons.
Vladimir Coufal has seen his level drop over the last 18 months or so, and Dest could certainly compete with Ben Johnson for a starting role.
Defensively he isn’t the best, but he is very athletic and good going forward which would suit the Premier League. It could be a shrewd bit of business if we can get it over the line, and the fee would likely get lower as time went on too.