The England defender is upset at the deal collapsing, but he and the two clubs involved stands to benefit from it in the long run
You'd have thought the main story on deadline day would have been Liverpool smashing the British transfer record for the second time in one window to finally secure Alexander Isak from Newcastle. Instead, it was the deal that the Premier League champions didn't get over the line that has dominated the headlines and discourse.
With a few hours to spare before the window closed, Liverpool reached a long-awaited agreement with Crystal Palace to sign Marc Guehi, who the club were actively looking to sell as he entered the final 12 months of his contract with little desire to pen an extension. By around 4pm, three hours ahead of the deadline, he was undergoing a medical at the Merseysiders' London headquarters.
Alas, Palace pulled the plug even after a deal sheet had been submitted to the Premier League after failing to procure a replacement. Their top target, Igor Julio of rivals Brighton, opted to join West Ham on loan instead, scuppering Guehi's chance to move to Anfield for at least the majority of the 2025-26 season.
Guehi is, unsurprisingly, said to have been furious for having this opportunity denied at the very last minute. In the immediate aftermath, there will be heartache and regret that he maybe didn't handle the situation better – acting a model professional in contrast to Isak and Yoane Wissa, who did get their respective moves on Monday evening – but there are still silver linings. In fact, Guehi could still stand to hugely benefit from how this saga has unfolded.
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportOpens European doors
The Premier League's grip on the global market has never been tighter. According to , nine of the top 10 spending clubs for the 2025 window hailed from England, with Bayer Leverkusen – who sold Florian Wirtz to Liverpool for £117 million ($157m), among others – the only exception.
Had Guehi's move gone through, Palace would have pocketed £35m ($47m). In isolation, that's not an overly extravagant sum to part with for a player in the final year of his contract, but that still seemed too hefty an investment for the elite clubs on the continent to throw their respective hats into the ring for.
report that Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus are among the teams who 'expressed an interest' in acquiring Guehi, though couldn't stump up the cash needed to trigger an exit this year. Per those statistics from , Barca, infamously hampered by financial restrictions, ranked 80th on their list of summer spenders, with Bayern coming in at 39th and Juve at 18th. Three of the world's biggest sporting institutions were outspent considerably by newly-promoted Sunderland.
If Guehi indeed doesn't sign a new deal at Palace, he will be able to freely negotiate with foreign clubs in January, potentially pocketing a more lucrative signing-on bonus for his troubles of staying at Selhurst Park a little while longer. These elite sides are becoming more inclined to poaching from the Premier League's mid-table, and there won't be shortage of suitors at home or on the continent for his services.
AdvertisementAFPGuaranteed minutes for World Cup charge
Guehi formed a crucial part of the England core that reached the Euro 2024 final last summer. He only missed one match, their 2-1 win over Netherlands in the semi-finals, due to suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards. On that occasion, he was replaced in the starting XI by Ezri Konsa, before being reinstated in place of the Aston Villa defender for the final.
However, he has scarcely featured for the Three Lions under Thomas Tuchel, playing in only one of the German's four games in charge thus far. Ironically, Konsa appears to be the new lynchpin, starting three of those matches, while Dan Burn has started alongside him in two. Part of this is down to a lack of luck, with a head injury sustained in May's FA Cup final ruling Guehi out of England's June internationals.
Regardless, the competition for places at centre-back is on. Konsa, Burn, John Stones and Jarell Quansah are the other centre-backs that have been called into September's squad, while it's difficult to rule out Harry Maguire's prospects of being on the plane next summer given his previous importance to England and resurgent reputation at Manchester United.
Tuchel clearly has his favourites, as demonstrated by calling up his former Chelsea player Reece James over Trent Alexander-Arnold and bringing Ruben Loftus-Cheek back into the international fold for the first time in six years. If Konsa is really the manager's top option, then Guehi's best chance of wrestling back his place will be through consistent game time as a starter. That could have transpired at Liverpool, but with Ibrahima Konate also fighting for minutes, he could have been in and out of Arne Slot's line up in a season where he needs maximum exposure.
Getty ImagesShort-term loss
Much has been made of Liverpool's extraordinary transfer window, one which culminated with signing one of the best strikers in the world to take their spending over the £400m mark. Regardless, they were still lackadaisical when it came to closing a deal for one of their other primary targets.
The club's pursuit of Isak was complex given the numbers involved and Newcastle's public stance that they were not interested in selling him. In the case of Guehi, Palace were openly telling the world they needed to cash in. Chairman Steve Parish said after their Community Shield victory over the Reds on August 10: "For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it's a problem. No doubt about it, unfortunately."
Liverpool started formal talks with Palace soon after that meeting at Wembley, while at the same time wrapped up a deal for Italian wonderkid Giovanni Leoni. It shouldn't have taken them nearly three weeks to come to an agreement on a fee. Whether Palace should have had a successor for Guehi lined up before deadline day is another issue, but the Reds' top brass needed to be in control of their own situation, and instead they ceded it to Parish.
It's not necessary for the clubs at the top of the food chain to 'win' every transfer dealing. If they get their target at a price that seems fair, that's all that matters. Unfortunately for Liverpool, they 'lost' both the player and the deal at a time where they needed another body for their backline.
Getty Images SportSwapping profit for shot at success
One way or another, Palace have shot themselves in the foot. Guehi is not going to sign a new contract, and they will either lose him in January on a cut-price deal or in summer 2026 for nothing at all. For a mid-table club with European aspirations to lose such an asset in these circumstances is concerning, yet it may well be cancelled out by another layer of incompetence.
Oliver Glasner reportedly threatened to stand down as manager if Parish sanctioned the sale of Guehi without acquiring a replacement. The squad barely has enough centre-backs for his 3-4-3 situation as it is, and keeping Guehi will make them a better team in the short term while there is now no escape from their need to do some forward planning.
Parish is both the winner and loser here. It shouldn't have got to this point to keep Glasner, now forever a club legend for delivering the FA Cup and leading Palace into Europe for the first time, in his post. The Austrian is a top-level manager who will surely be inundated with offers over the next couple of years, and in lieu of Guehi, he is now the most valuable person at Selhurst Park. But you can't help but feel the chairman must feel some level of regret at not selling to Newcastle in 2024 for £65m, or to Tottenham at the peak of their injury crisis last January for £70m.
