Marc Guehi angry with the wrong people as Liverpool to blame over failed transfer gamble
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Credit: Imago, Hasan Karim - Breaking Media
Oliver Walton
Wed 3 September 2025 19:36, UK
Marc Guehi is known to be angry at Crystal Palace after his move to Liverpool fell through, but he may be directing his fury at the wrong club after the Reds failed to seal his capture.
Marc Guehi remains a Crystal Palace player for now, after his move to Liverpool was called off at the eleventh hour on deadline day (Monday, 1 September) due to the Eagles being unable to sign a replacement in time.
His future had been up in the air all summer after a stellar season in which he helped Palace win their first ever major trophy, the FA Cup, and lifted in aloft as captain at Wembley in May.
The England centre-back stayed put throughout the early stages of the window, however, and that progressed into the latter stages as the Reds bided their time to submit an official bid for his services.
Guehi’s move to Liverpool eventually fell through right at the last, and while he has been left frustrated by Palace’s failure to find a new defender late on, he should also be annoyed with the Anfield outfit after their delays in actually actively trying to sign him.
Credit: Manh Tung, Breaking Media
Guehi has been left angry and disappointed at Crystal Palace, as revealed to Football Insider by former scout Mick Brown, because they were the ones who pulled out on the deal in the final hours of the window due to being unable to sign another centre-back to replace the 25-year-old.
Guehi’s relationship with Oliver Glasner is said to now be strained thanks to the transfer failure, but that may be the wrong target for his ire.
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According to a new report from Sky Sports, however, it is believed that talks about a move only started when the two sides played each other at Wembley in the Community Shield on 10 August.
Liverpool wanted Guehi all along, yet they waited until the final month of the window to actually begin negotiating with Palace about a player who the Eagles were very clearly going to try and keep hold of unless their price-tag was matched.
Credit: Imago
That seems like a fault of the Reds, rather than the capital side, who can certainly not be blamed for trying to hold out for a fee higher than £35million, which was set to be seriously measly figure for a player of Guehi’s quality.
The same report also states that Guehi’s move would have “certainly happened” if Liverpool had been willing to increase their offer, but they wouldn’t bid against themselves and had no intention of offering more than £35m.
This begs the question of: did Liverpool really, truly want to sign Guehi?
They were already set to get him for a cut-price fee due to his contract being up next summer, and spent massive amounts on other players, so it seems strange to think that they were haggling over a small amount to land a supposed top target.
Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media
The Athletic also claim that Liverpool knew they had gambled by waiting until the last day of the window to formally sign Guehi, but thought their approach would pay off with Palace likely happy to part with any money before he could potentially leave for free to overseas clubs in January.
The Eagles were clearly not that desperate for the £35m that came with selling him, however, and it again seems like a fault on Liverpool’s part to have waited so long before putting the wheels properly in motion for a move, so he should be angry at them as well as Palace.
Eagles boss Glasner was adamant throughout the window about his stance on needing replacements to allow Guehi to leave, admitting after their win against Aston Villa on Sunday (31 August) that the club had “no chance” of finding one so late on for the England man and so had to keep him at Selhurst Park.
Guehi’s impressive exploits at Palace have made him one of the most highly-rated, in-demand centre-backs in the Premier League, and a move to Liverpool will have undoubtedly appealed after their recent title win.
AppearancesGoalsAssists16094Guehi’s Crystal Palace career stats
His influence has been so clear that the Eagles wanted two centre-backs to come in to replace him this summer, and despite signing youngster Jaydee Canvot from Toulouse on deadline day, that was certainly not enough to sanction Guehi’s exit.
They were right, then, to pull the plug on his deal, as much as it has seemingly and understandably annoyed him, as the fee they were set to receive was not enough to justify such a late sale, and it is better to have upset Guehi than to have potentially pushed Glasner closer to the exit door by letting him leave without a replacement.