United States defender Sergino Dest is hoping to get more playing time ahead of this year’s World Cup in Qatar after joining Serie A champion AC Milan on transfer deadline day.
Milan also has the right to buy Dest from Barcelona at the end of the season-long loan deal for €20 million ($19.9m).
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“I need to get minutes for the World Cup. I need to play. Not only for the World Cup, I just want to play always,” Dest said in an interview with Milan TV on Friday. “They [Milan] gave me a great opportunity. So I didn’t even think twice. I was like: I have to do it. I want to play. So it was an easy decision to make.”
Dest started his career at Ajax before moving to Barcelona two years ago for €21 million euros (then $24.7 million) but he never fully met expectations and couldn’t establish himself as a regular starter.
He had plenty of minutes in his first season but then his playing time gradually decreased and the 21-year-old Dest knew that, with the World Cup approaching in November, he needed to have a regular place in a team.
Dest has a Surinamese-American father and Dutch mother and chose to play for the United States instead of the Netherlands, where he was born and raised. He has scored two goals in 17 matches for the national team.
