A supposed agreement between European giants Barcelona and Ajax have left Chelsea and Arsenal’s transfer wishlist unfulfilled. The Gunners were assumed to be interested in Ajax full-back Noussair Mazraoui, while Barcelona right-back Sergino Dest was on Chelsea’s watchlist.
With Arsenal in the middle of a rebuild, manager Mikel Arteta was believed to have shown a particular interest in bringing the Moroccan right-back to the Emirates. As for Chelsea, they are looking towards Dest as an injury replacement for their left-back Ben Chilwell.
However, it looks as if both clubs will be left hanging, as Ajax and Barca have reached an agreement, with each player moving the other way in a swap deal. Chelsea also face the possibility of losing out on two more of their senior defenders, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger out of contract in 2022. It looks like the German’s contract negotiations have run into a wall, whereas the situation regarding the Spaniard remains unclear.
The Catalans, whose financial struggles have been well documented, are keen on securing the services of the Moroccan Marazoui, who has apparently been on the club’s radar for quite some time now.
Interestingly, Barcelona signed the highly promising Dest from Ajax in 2020, but he has failed to make the sort of impact that was expected of him, and therefore could be looking at a move back to his former club.
Dest has fared far below expectations, as he has failed to make any sort of impact on Barca’s horror season, recently crashing out of the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after a damning defeat to Bayern Munich in their final encounter of the league stages. A series of injuries was also one of the reasons behind his torrid time at Camp Nou.
While the Amsterdam-based club were adamant to hold on to the Marazoui, the prospect of losing him on a free in the summer has led the Dutch giants to agree to a swap-deal with the Blaugrana, bringing back to the club a promising young talent.
