Ex-Reds boss slams Liverpool and Crystal Palace for Marc Guehi's transfer agony
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Former Liverpool and Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson admits he feels for Marc Guehi and reckons the England defender's collapsed switch to Anfield ought to have been sorted well before transfer deadline day.
Guehi was on the brink of a last-minute move to Liverpool, the Premier League champion, after completing a medical in London, but he was compelled to stay at Selhurst Park following a dramatic twist of events.
Palace had identified Brighton's Julio Igor as Guehi's replacement, but the center-back's loan switch collapsed when West Ham launched a late bid, and Eagles manager Oliver Glasner warned he would quit the club if the captain departed without a substitute lined up on Monday.
This forced Palace chairman Steve Parish to pull the plug on the looming transfer, and Guehi's dream switch was scuppered, with later reports from London suggesting the Three Lions star is frustrated with how matters developed.
Hodgson, who suffered a torrid six-month stint at Anfield 15 years ago, managed Palace across two different periods between 2017 and 2024, and he admits he sympathises with Guehi, whose ambition of joining the Reds was thwarted through no doing of his own on Monday.
"I worked with him for a year-and-a-half," Hodgson told talkSPORT
"He's the person I feel really sorry for because if right at the beginning it had been made clear his task ahead would be to stay at Crystal Palace and there'd be no question he'd be leaving in the transfer window, then I'm sure he would have got his head around that.
"But having been led to believe sooner or later a deal would be done between the clubs, I guess that his head for the last period of time has been that he was going to move
He's the loser in the situation.
"Palace should be the winner because he's such a good player and to have a player, captain and leader of that calibre should be advantageous.
"But it remains to be seen how upset he may have been by what's happened during these past few hours.
"I think the transfer situation could have been sorted out much quicker between both clubs."
The Reds could make a fresh approach for Guehi in January with a potentially lower valuation, though with the 25-year-old entering the final year of his contract, a summer move might prove more attractive to Arne Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes.
Hodgson hasn't dismissed the possibility of Guehi penning fresh terms at Selhurst Park, stating: "Anything is possible.
"We did that (contract renewal) for years with Wilfried Zaha
"But of course, the problem with that, and Steve tells me privately he regretted that his wages put him on such a pedestal at the club, partly because it meant the wage bill of the club went up enormously."