USMNT star Sergino Dest reveals when Lionel Messi lost ‘feeling of fun’ at Barcelona – with ‘jokes’ drying up from Argentine GOAT

As a product of the famed La Masia academy, and a record-shattering club legend in Catalunya, eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi was expected to spend his entire playing career at Camp Nou. That dream died, though, when forced to leave for Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent in 2021.

Messi was a 10-time La Liga title winner by that point, with four Champions League crowns to his name, and bowed out on the back of a seventh Copa del Rey triumph. Tears flowed when bidding farewell to Barca, but Dest says the South American GOAT had stopped playing with a smile by that time.

United States international Dest, who joined Barca in 2020, has told SPORT of the greatest team-mate that he has worked alongside: “Messi, of course. You see him on YouTube, in video games... and suddenly he's there, in front of you. There was a good atmosphere in the dressing room the first year, he made jokes... then that changed and that feeling of fun was lost a bit.”

Dest has now severed ties with Barcelona himself, with a permanent move to PSV completed on the back of a productive loan spell. The 23-year-old defender added when asked if he would like to return to Spanish football at some stage: “Yes! I hope so. I am very happy and very grateful at PSV, but I am ambitious and of course I would like to play in one of the five major leagues in Europe again. I think I have the level for it and with hard work and consistency I think I can achieve it, without a doubt. I don't know what will happen, but I would like to return to La Liga in the future.”

Time is on Dest’s side when it comes to gracing the very highest level again, while Messi is now turning out in the United States at 37 years of age. He has been collecting more trophies with Inter Miami and remains in the hunt for MLS Cup glory at the end of the 2024 campaign.