'Could have been': Martin Keown predicts what would have happened if Guehi was playing for Liverpool yesterday
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Liverpool came face-to-face with their failure to sign Marc Guehi on Saturday as they succumbed to a loss against Crystal Palace.
The Reds had been oh so close to bringing Guehi to Anfield on transfer deadline day, having agreed a deal with Palace.
However, after the south Londoners pulled the plug at the last minute, the centre-back stayed put.
There have been suggestions that Liverpool still hope to sign Guehi on a free transfer next summer, but Giovanni Leoni’s season-ending injury has left many supporters desperate to see a January move.
On Saturday, they were given another chance to see Guehi up close, as he and his Palace teammates ended Liverpool‘s unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
And according to former England centre-back Martin Keown, the 25-year-old was ultimately the difference between a win and a loss for Liverpool.
Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images
It remains to be seen whether Guehi will follow through on his wish to join Liverpool and move to Anfield next summer.
What seems to be more certain is that the England international will not be a Palace player come this time next year.
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Eagles fans are certainly enjoying him while they can, though, and Keown claims that if Guehi had been on the Liverpool team on Saturday, Arne Slot would have been celebrating six wins out of six.
“I think this was probably won in that tug-of-war to keep Guehi at the football club,” the pundit told Match of the Day.
“[Oliver] Glasner was very aggressive, [he took] an aggressive stance.
If Guehi was playing today for Liverpool, and in a different world he could have been, Konate got the run-around today and you saw what they were missing.
“Guehi was really important to their defence and they got the necessary win that they need.”
Although it is a handy narrative to toe, there is little reason to believe that Guehi playing for Liverpool would have changed the result on Saturday.
Ibrahima Konate was terrible against Palace, that much is clearly true, but his performance did not directly lead to the Reds losing.
Instead, Liverpool’s issues stem from a lack of cohesion at the top end of the pitch and in midfield.
The defence is a problem, but the real worry is that Liverpool are barely creating anything and do not look especially threatening going forward for much of the time.
Guehi is a quality player who can certainly add something to the Liverpool squad, but he is not the reason Palace won this weekend.