2 weeks ago
35
€45m market value
©IMAGO
Liverpool's incredibly busy summer transfer window hit a minor roadblock on deadline day with Crystal Palace captain Marc Guéhi seeing his move to Anfield called off after passing his medical for the Merseyside club. Both sides had a €40.4 million deal agreed ahead of the window closing at 7 p.m. and an offer sheet was submitted in time for Liverpool to go ahead and register the player. Personal terms were also in place on a five-year contract that would have run through to 2030. Guéhi has just one year remaining on his contract at Selhurst Park, and Palace manager Oliver Glasner was more than reluctant to allow the player to leave despite running the risk of losing him on a free transfer next summer.
The Austrian manager is now getting his wish. With Palace unable to sign a replacement, the transfer has now been called off. It is the final chapter of a long transfer saga. Liverpool held talks with a move for the defender earlier this month, but no agreement was reached with Guéhi, who sought assurances over playing time ahead of next year’s World Cup. The centre-back played the full game in Palace’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday and scored their second goal with a stunning strike. “He’s so professional and it was clear he would play today,” manager Oliver Glasner said in his post-match press conference.
“I can say it with clarity, and I said it to the chairman that it’s nothing to do with me but we need to keep Marc to play a successful season." Glasner got his wish as his skipper will now stay. For Liverpool it will be the only dark stain on what has been otherwise a brilliant transfer summer. The club is set to announce Alexander Isak as a new Liverpool player in a Premier League record deal today, it will mean the Reds' spending will come close to €500m once it is completed. Despite the Guehi deal now off, it is still a record spend this transfer window, and it will be the most amount of money a club has ever spent on transfers in a single window, passing the €464m Chelsea spent in their spending spree in the summer of 2023.
