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Dest praises his new teammate: “Messi is the greatest of all time”
Barcelona’s newest recruit talked about the club and playing with the greatest of all time.
Barcelona have officially confirmed the signing of Sergiño Dest and the youngster quickly called Lionel Messi the greatest of all time. The pacey American full-back talked exclusively to De Telegraaf and Mike Verweij about his new home.
As he has now confirmed himself, the 19-year-old was really close to joining Bayern Munich instead of Barça.
“Until 2 weeks ago, I thought I was going to play for Bayern Munich. Eventually I started to think more and more about a transfer to Barcelona instead.”
It didn’t take Dest too long to proclaim Messi is the greatest player of all time. He seems excited to be playing alongside the Argentine.
“I believe Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, so it will be beautiful to play alongside him. I will run the lungs out of my body for him (laughs).”
READ: 10 things you need to know about Barça’s latest signing Dest
Of course, Ronald Koeman was a big reason why it ended being Barcelona instead of Bayern. Having someone who speaks the language and knows you well is a huge plus…
“Me and Ronald Koeman spoke to each other multiple times through phone-calls. I need to find my way at a new club and it’s always nice if you already know people who are going to help you, and who also speak the same language. (Schreuder/Frenkie/Kluivert/Koeman).”
READ: Sergiño Dest explains why he chose Barça
Finally, he believes that Barcelona trust him and for that reason, he will make sure that trust is warranted. Dest outlined some of his abilities that will definitely suit the Catalans well.
“The club sees in me the new right-back of Barça, the number 2 that I received also shows that they have a lot of confidence in me. I hope to achieve a starting spot as soon as possible, I will give everything for that.”
“I have to work very hard and enforce it myself. With my drive, speed and stamina I can be a huge threat for the team on the right side of the pitch.”, concluded Dest.
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At this point, practically everyone not living under a rock knows Barcelona are struggling financially. Part of that issue is certainly the ongoing pandemic, which has put more than just a dent in everyone’s wallets. However, the other part of that problem was also self-inflicted when it comes to the Catalan giants.
According to Carrusel Deportivo‘s latest report, Barcelona have spent a record one billion euros in the last five seasons on the market. They’ve gathered the information from Transfermarkt and their data source of spendings to create a list of teams who have spent the most in recent times.
And with a total of 1.057 million euros thrown down the drain, Barcelona have convincingly taken the first spot. Of course, this is not exactly a race you want to be leading or winning, for that matter. Manchester City are just behind them with €952M and Juventus are third with €941M.
Interestingly, Real Madrid are the ones who have lost the least amount, ‘only’ €47M, which is indeed pocket change compared to Barcelona’s €367M. Still, it has to be noted that the Catalans are also the club with the second-highest income in the last five years, €690M to be more precise, but that is so heavily outweighed by the losses that it hardly makes a difference.
When we take all of that into account, it really does become crystal clear why they are in such a mess in the first place. Needless to say, whoever wins the elections in less than a week’s time will have a mountain to climb to get the club out of this mess.
But we should also understand that kind of a job is not something you can solve quickly. It may take a couple of seasons of good and sensible business to bring Barcelona back from the brink.
Still, it is possible and with the right leadership, it should inevitably happen.