Home » Sergiño Dest: Stats and Biography – AC Milan

Sergiño Dest: Stats and Biography – AC Milan

Position: Full-back 

Age: 21 (born November 3, 2000) 

Shirt number: 21 

Country: United States (2 goals in 19 appearances since 2019) 

At AC Milan since: 2022 (on loan from FC Barcelona) 

Joining Aster Vranckx at the deadline is the last signing of the Rossoneri for Pioli’s first team, in which he will provide depth to the utility roles, especially at the right-back in which Alessandro Florenzi and club captain Davide Calabria holding their spots in the starting line-up. 

Born into Almere, Netherlands with a Dutch mom and a dual Surinamese-American dad, Dest played with his boyhood club’s academy until 2012, when he was picked up by powerhouse Ajax and its vaunted Jong squad.  

Initially played up front as a forward, Dest switched to his current defensive role until he made his first-team debut in 2019 under Erik ten Hag, where they defeated PSV 2-0 in the Cruyff Shield. 

It was his father’s citizenship that caught the eye of US Soccer, in which at the same year of his Ajax bow, he earned his first cap for the United States in a friendly defeat to rivals Mexico. He eventually scored twice, including his first competitive goal in a 2-1 win over Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier.

Dest scored twice in his 38 appearances in all competitions for Ajax until he was picked up by FC Barcelona on a €21 million fee in 2020. In his first season under Ronald Koeman he became the first American to score for the Catalan side where he found the net against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League. He later won his first major honor when he picked up the Copa Del Rey in 2021. 

The arrival of Xavi brought drastic changes to his life at the Nou Camp, and before the door was shut on the first day of September, Milan picked him up on loan with an option for a permanent buy in 2023. 

With the said deal, he joins Juve’s Weston McKennie as the American contingent in the Serie A.