Oliver Glasner is unsure about Marc Guehi leaving this month, with hints that the Crystal Palace skipper could stay until the summer.
Marc Guehi could be a big source of transfer discussions this month as he winds down his Crystal Palace contract. The English defender was close to leaving the club on deadline day of the summer window, although Liverpool failed to finalise the move when Palace chose to keep him at the eleventh hour.
Speculation over a January move to Liverpool has been rife, but it appears Liverpool prefer to wait until the summer to get him on a free transfer. The idea of moving along on a Bosman move is to have a variety of offers on his table.
Marc Guehi is also reportedly keen to move in the summer, which did boost Oliver Glasner’s hope of having him for the remainder of the campaign. The Englishman is key to Crystal Palace’s chances of finishing in a European place as well as winning the Conference League, but at the moment, things have changed, as there are heavy links for the defender to leave.
Manchester City are now accelerating the pursuit to sign Guehi, following an injury crisis that has seen Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias sidelined for a considerable period. Pep Guardiola wants to bring in a top-notch defender to keep up in the title race, where they are five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more.
While there are rumblings that Manchester City are preparing a bid, Oliver Glasner is hopeful that Marc Guehi wants to stay for the time being. The Palace boss did hint via his comments on Sky Sports that his skipper may want to stay rather than leave this month.
Glasner said, “I think Marc will stay, but if Marc says ‘I want to leave’, and a club pays massive money – with five months left of a contract – every player will leave if you’re playing for a club like Crystal Palace. I’m pretty sure our chairman will ask for a very high price for him, and then let’s see. I don’t know if Marc wants to leave.”
When asked whether he was worried that the 25-year-old Liverpool-linked defender would end up leaving this month, Glasner insisted he wasn’t getting carried away by talks.
Glasner continued, “No more worried than in the summer because the summer would’ve been the same. If the offer would have been high enough that the club is fine with it, and if Marc wanted to go, he wouldn’t be a Crystal Palace player anymore.”
Marc Guehi will have a lot of options when he decides to leave Palace in the summer, with a host of teams already showing big interest, including a few from outside of England. However, there will be top teams within the Premier League who will want to sign him, including Liverpool and Manchester City.
As Glasner said, it would take a combination of Palace’s desire to sell as well as Guehi’s eagerness to leave this month to see the 25-year-old Englishman exit Selhurst Park this month. Manchester City might still make a bid, but the consensus is that Guehi might continue and finish the season with Palace rather than moving this month.
