18-year-old American Sergiño Dest made his Ajax senior debut on Saturday in the Johan Cruijff Shield, going the full 90 minutes and helping his side to its first piece of silverware this season following a 2-0 victory over Chucky Lozano’s PSV.
Dest impressed last season for Jong Ajax, the club’s reserve team, while making 17 appearances in the Eerste Divisie (the Dutch second tier) and tallying one goal and two assists. He also scored one goal and provided one assist in seven appearances in the prestigious UEFA Youth League.
Following the departures of full backs Daley Sinkgraven and Rasmus Nissen, Dest has been touted as a potential starter for Ajax at left back. Dest is naturally right-footed, but he’s an incredibly skillful and technical player that’s adept with his left as well.
Although he had a couple shaky moments in defense — what you’d expect from a teenager making his first team debut — Dest was extremely positive throughout. The first yellow card of the match was handed to PSV’s Jorrit Hendrix after the midfielder was forced to tactically foul a rapidly countering Dest, and the young American had a shot strike the outside of the post in the 75th minute.
Dest began the match tucked behind Quincy Promes on the left flank, and he spent the final half-hour with the great Hakim Ziyech in front of him. As you might imagine, he gets a lot of excellent opportunities to overlap and combine with the two.
It’s going to be an exciting season for the USMNT U-20 talent.
Sergino Dest Ajax Debut vs PSV
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