Marc Guehi now in stronger position despite collapse of Liverpool move

Slot was disappointed, as he expected the signing. “If a player wants a transfer that he doesn’t get, then you always feel for him,” the Liverpool head coach said. “If it’s a player of my team, you talk to him, make sure he gets his energy back and keeps going again, and that is probably what has happened at Palace with Marc Guéhi.”

Guéhi was fuming when he immediately left for England duty, starting in the wins over Andorra and Serbia. He has since made peace with the decision and delivered the same high level of performance in starting every club match, helping Palace remain unbeaten and navigate what could have been a difficult start to the season after the sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal. Guéhi has also firmly established himself as one of the first names on Thomas Tuchel’s team-sheet and he can raise his stature again at the World Cup finals next summer.

When he returned to Palace he spoke with Glasner. “It is credit to Marc that he never threatened to strike. He is a very honest person,” the Palace manager said. “That is why I was never worried about this situation. He will be our captain as long as he’s here, because he’s just such a great player and such a great personality.”

In his pre-match press conference on Friday, Glasner reiterated this stance. “As long as Mark is playing for Palace, he will be playing with 100 per cent. This is what I expect tomorrow,” he said. “He’s an amazing player, he’s in amazing shape. The window is closed, fortunately, so he’s completely focused on Crystal Palace.”

Guéhi has emerged in a stronger position and will be hugely sought after as a free agent next summer, when he will be able to command a big wage and signing-on fee. The likes of Manchester City and Real Madrid could try to compete with Liverpool for his signature.

Liverpool will not try to sign him in January as it is not their approach to pay a significant transfer fee five months before they can recruit a player for nothing. That strategy seems unlikely to change, even after their centre back signed from Parma in the summer, Giovanni Leoni, tore a cruciate ligament in his left knee this week. History shows they reacted to losing Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez for the second half of the 2020-21 season by bringing in Ozan Kabak on loan and Ben Davies from Preston North End.

Liverpool’s strong hope, given that Guéhi had mentally joined them, is that nothing will change in his mind during the season and he will move to them next summer. By the start of next season Van Dijk will have turned 35 and Ibrahima Konaté may have left as a free agent when his contract expires amid interest from Real Madrid. Gomez, the club’s third centre back, has a patchy injury record and Leoni, 18, would still be recovering from his serious knee injury.

The champions were on their way to landing all their summer targets when they accelerated their interest in Guéhi with about six weeks of the window left after selling Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen. Guéhi met their requirement for a centre back who is adept on the ball; he ranked very highly among defenders playing through-balls and is especially good at hitting diagonal passes.

The Liverpool sporting director, Richard Hughes, was approached by Parish about a possible deal when the clubs played at Wembley on August 10. There were talks in the following two or three days during which a £35million fee was discussed. Liverpool were ready to do the deal then but Parish went quiet for a couple of weeks and ignored Liverpool’s advances until the final two days of the window.

“I try to put myself in the player’s shoes,” Slot said. “That can happen with a player from us as well, maybe a player wanted to leave but in the end couldn’t because we couldn’t get a player we wanted. That happens in football many times and the good thing in football is especially after the international break, everybody comes back, accepts the situation and knows he has to perform well.”

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