US defender Sergino Dest has announced he is leaving his current team, Ajax’s, winter training camp in Qatar. The club announced this is due to the current escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Dest is due to continue his training with the club’s juniors in Amsterdam. Ajax announced on Thursday that Dest was leaving because ‘he did not feel comfortable’ with the unfolding hostilities within the region.
His decision furthers the trend of US sportsmen watching the situation in the Middle East unfold from a distance. Last week, the US men’s national soccer team cancelled plans to hold its own training camp in Qatar, which is due to hold the 2022 World Cup.
Dest’s request to leave the camp was made the day after Iran launched missile attacks on two military bases in Iraq containing US troops. This was in response to an American drone strike that killed the prominent Iranian military commander, Qassem Soleimani.
Ajax is continuing their training camp, planning for warm-weather training and two upcoming friendlies.
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