Liverpool were punished for making a rare transfer mistake on deadline day, and it leaves Arne Slot’s near-perfect squad with a glaring weakness…
It has been pretty difficult to pick a fault in Liverpool‘s transfer model under the FSG regime, and this has particularly been the case in this summer’s window, with a massive £414.5m invested to rejuvenate the champions and lay the groundwork for an era of domination in the Premier League and potentially in Europe.
Still, Liverpool did not quite manage a perfect summer transfer window, and this is thanks to the deadline day drama surrounding Marc Guehi.
Crystal Palace’s captain, unlike two ‘rats’ who got their moves, has remained utmost professional and has not resorted to childish tactics to secure a transfer amid the constant noise regarding his future ahead of the expiry of his contract in 2026.
Guehi’s exemplary conduct ensured Crystal Palace could make the best of a difficult situation, which is currently playing out after the desired outcome for all parties was not reached.
In an ideal world, Palace would love to keep Guehi for the rest of his career, but sadly, this is not feasible amid the cruelty of modern football. Though the club has, at least, been aware of this fact and has looked to maximise their value on the England international, as they did with Eberechi Eze and previously Michael Olise.
After missing out on £60-70 million for Guehi in the 2024 summer window as Newcastle United messed around, the defender’s contract situation forced Palace to consider a cut-price sale at £35-40 million.
Despite Guehi’s brilliant form for club and country in recent years, this is about the maximum that Palace could expect to receive from a buying club, and Liverpool, eventually, were willing to meet those demands.
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On the afternoon of deadline day, everything looked to be in place for Crystal Palace to get their money, Guehi to get a dream move and Liverpool to seal their top transfer target, though this suddenly fell apart as a deal collapsed at the eleventh hour.
And while some have laid the blame for this failed transfer at Igor Julio’s door after he rejected the chance to be Guehi’s replacement to join West Ham for a freer run at the starting XI, Liverpool are actually at fault.
Liverpool have done superb business in this window, but the cherry has not been put on a rather expensive cake due to their insistence on leaving it to the wire for Guehi, in the hope of there being a cut to an already reduced fee.
For months, it’s been clear that Guehi only wants Liverpool and he is their top centre-back target, with the £35m deal a bigger no-brainer than any of the club’s other summer signings.
But Liverpool’s unwillingness to sanction Guehi’s move earlier in the window, potentially for an extra £5-10m, has been to their undoing as Crystal Palace, rightly, pulled the plug after missing out on a replacement at the start of a historic season in Europe.
Oliver Glasner was already p*ssed off due to Crystal Palace’s transfer inactivity, but the potential last-minute sale of Guehi appeared to boil things over, as it’s been widely reported that the frustrated head coach threatened to walk if the centre-back was sold without being replaced.
At this point, Palace chief Steve Parish was left with no real option but to cancel Guehi’s move until January at least, with the threat of losing Glasner and having an England starter-shaped hole in defence being too significant to ignore.
As for Liverpool, they will likely try again for Guehi in January for an even lower fee or sign him for nothing in the summer. Until then, they are left with a glaring weakness in an otherwise brilliant squad, which could so easily have been fixed way before deadline day.
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