“The closest thing” – These fans compare Barcelona youngster with a club legend after a bright start to his Nou Camp career | OneFootball

Barcelona have struggled to replace a lot of their veteran stars in recent years, but finding someone to step in for Dani Alves has been a bigger challenge than most.

There simply aren’t many top quality wing backs so the options were always limited, but several players have come and gone without making any impact.

Aleix Vidal, Nelson Semedo and Douglas have all been seen as potential successors at one point while Sergi Roberto can fill in, but he looks like a midfielder playing out of position and doesn’t look like a first choice option.

READ MORE: Video: VAR comes to Real Madrid’s aid again after Sergio Ramos wins and converts a penalty vs Barcelona

The thing about Alves was that of course he was a great player, but he also had the athleticism to command an entire side of the pitch to himself, so it forced the opposition back and opened up all kinds of space for Lionel Messi inside.

Sergino Dest has been brought in this summer and it’s still very early days, but he does look like he has the attributes to finally provide the long term answer at right back, and he’s impressing in the Clasico today.

It doesn’t usually work out well when a youngster is heavily likened to a club legend, but plenty of fans are pointing out the similarities between Dest and Alves today: