by Tim Stannard/beIN SPORTS

Sergiño Dest agent denies immediate interest but admits Barcelona inquiries in the past

For a few weeks last year, the future of the 19-year-old Ajax right back Sergiño Dest was quite the preoccupation of US soccer fans. 

The Netherlands-born player, who is qualified to play for the US through his father, had featured in the country's youth levels. However, a decision had to be taken on whether to carry on that path to the USMNT or go Dutch. Dest chose the former and has now been noticed by some of Europe's even bigger fishes. 

A Dutch TV station had reported this week that Dest had turned down an offer from Bayern Munich because another club was standing by - Barcelona, a team looking for a replacement for Nelson Semedo who is expected to leave this summer. 

Dest's agent, Joes Blakborn, has since curbed the enthusiasm a little by telling De Telegraaf that "Barcelona has sometimes inquired about Sergiño’s situation, but that was it. There is no concrete interest. Barcelona has not reported to me and not to Ajax."

But, by admitting that Barca has been poking around his client in the recent past, the transfer of an American to the Camp Nou very much falls into Sports Burst's "so you're telling me there's a chance?" bucket of doable transfer moves. 

The Sports Burst live show will be looking to everything going on out there at 12PM ET / 9AM on our beIN SPORTS USA Facebook page or beIN XTRA channel. 

Messi heaps praise on Lautaro Martinez with Luis Suarez comparison 

Leo Messi has spoken. Again. And has pretty much given the seal of approval on Lautaro Martinez moving to the Camp Nou and playing alongside him with some very special words, words that will probably break the heart of Antoine Griezmann - "he is very similar to Luis Suarez". 

Indeed, speaking to Mundo Deportivo, Messi's praise was quite fulsome for his international colleague. “Lautaro is spectacular, you could tell that he would have become a great footballer, now he has exploded and is showing it".

Quite the hint to Barcelona's bosses with whom he has been feuding for a while on how to get on Messi's good side, although the Barca man admitted that "to be honest, I don’t know if there have been or are any negotiations".

Toothpaste derails Augsburg's start to the season

The Bundesliga is just a day away from returning and a story out of Augsburg shows just how seriously soccer's bosses are in getting the season completed. 

Augsburg are hosting Wolfsburg on Saturday and will be without their coach, Heiko Herrlich, who was busted after breaking quarantine protocols in the team hotel. 

Herrlich had popped out to a local shop to buy some toothpaste. The manager will now be isolated and won't be back out in the real world until he passes two successive COVID-19 tests. 

"I was not able to act as a role model for my team and the public," said Herrlich at a media engagement on Thursday. Herrlich was only appointed on March 10th and Saturday's clash was set to be his first in charge. 

Real Madrid's Toni Kroos has spoken about soccer's restart which is being pioneered by the Bundesliga and claimed, with some justification, that if the Germans can't pull this off, then no-one can.

The Sports Burst PM show at 7PM ET on beIN SPORTS will go live to Berlin to get the latest on the day before the grand reopening of European soccer. 

Another meeting in Italy as Serie A clubs rebel against protocols

In a bit of a juxtaposition to Germany - Italy.

Another meeting is set for Friday between Serie A, the Italian soccer federation and the government to resolve an issue that is threatening the league's planned restart on 13th June. 

The issue of medical protocols over group training is a sticking point. In a deal between the Italian federation and the government, any player that tests positive from the start of group training on Monday will see the entire squad and personnel going into isolation for 14 days, rather than just that individual, which is the approach of Spain and Germany.

Many of Serie A's clubs claim this is impractical and reportedly sees up to nine clubs including Inter, Milan, and Napoli canceling plans to begin group training on Monday. 

Austrian rivals call foul on league leaders in spy camera scandal

If the Bundesliga has Toothpaste-Gate, then Austria has Camera-gate. 

11 of the country's Bundesliga clubs have released a statement accusing the league leaders, Lask Linz, of breaking protocols by secretly training in groups before regulations allowed it. 

While not exactly denying the accusation, Linz revealed how the other clubs got wind of the scheme by claiming that the training ground had been broken into and cameras secretly installed. 

Welcome to the new normal.