The departure of Ajax’s biggest prospects of this decade, Frenkie de Jong and Mathijs de Ligt, and the club’s loyal servant, Lasse Schöne, has led to a rebuild in the Ajax squad. Newcomers such as Lisandro Martinez, Edson Alvarez have strengthened the midfield, and the return of the previously injured Joel Veltman filled the role that de Ligt left behind. One of the biggest revelations this season, however, is their youth prospect, Sergiño Dest.

Dest has been utilized mostly as a right-back under Erik Ten Hag. However, when Ajax’s attacking phase starts, the deep lying midfielder (usually Alvarez/Martinez) will form a temporary back three and Dest covers the midfield position. When the winger (Ziyech/Neres) cuts in from the touchline, Dest will fill the touchline. This rotational play has been the recurring theme of Ajax’s build-up from the right side. When Ajax are progressing the play even further on the pitch, Dest stands behind the penalty zone to prevent opposition’s counter attacks.

This is the part of the reason on why Dest is mainly defending on transitions, usually by marking the winger or centre midfielder on the halfspace, and this could also contribute on why Dest aren’t accustomed on static defending (defending when the transition is over).

Having the objective to fill the midfield zone, Dest showcased the ability to pass when pressed/marked tightly. He doesn’t do the pass that slices through the opposition’s midfield up to the final third like Martinez and Blind often do, but he is able to find players that lurk between the lines of the midfield and progress the play. When he got pressed in the touchline, he is still able to maintain his composure and find the open man. This makes him really handy at overloads.

Dest’s biggest strength, however, lies in his close control, followed by ball retention. This is also helped by his low centre of gravity. In a 1v1 situation, Dest will use step-overs or shifting the ball from one feet to another. His quick feet makes opponents struggle to cope with him in this situation.

At defending, Dest still lacks maturity. Sometimes he would be caught flat footed in a 1v1, disconnected from the defensive line and opened gaps behind, and often too focused on the player in front of him. His lean and short build (shortest and lightest in the Ajax squad), allows more space for opponents to create separations. This leads to opponents often using overloads in the left halfspace and left touchline in the final third, or pinning the centre-backs to allow 1v1 isolations.

This could be related from his “gamble” style on 1v1s, where he often instantly press and commit a tackle on an opponent in front of him, rather than contain him and wait for the defensive line to recover. The outcomes are mixed; the successful tackle resulted on a counter and the failed one usually turned into breaks. This often leads to an Ajax player to cover the zone he left wide open, usually Veltman.

Some graphs provided by this StatsBomb article tells about his tendencies in game. He defends more in the middle third and the opposition’s area, contributed at build-ups, and actively defends.

What type of club will he fit to?

To see this, we need to assess Dest’s strengths and weaknesses, and a squad that could maximize his playing style. In short, Dest could fit at this playing style and player compositions:

• A strong defensive backline to contain his “gamble”
• A team that gives freedom/have a circuit that lets a full-back to roam at the midfield
• A team which lets the winger cut inside and combine with the full-back, and
• Team that plays in a high/mid block.