Steve Parish explains why Crystal Palace blocked Marc Guehi’s move to Liverpool
The Premier League champions had agreed a £35million deal with Palace on transfer deadline day for the England international
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has revealed that the club’s first-ever season in European competition was the main reason behind cancelling captain Marc Guehi’s proposed move to Liverpool.
The Premier League champions had agreed a £35million deal with Palace on transfer deadline day for the England international.
Guehi was even granted permission to undergo a medical in London on September 1.
However, the Eagles’ efforts to secure a replacement collapsed when Brighton & Hove Albion defender Igor Julio opted for a loan move to West Ham United instead of joining Selhurst Park.
Reports that emerged on deadline night suggested head coach Oliver Glasner, who was determined to keep Guehi, threatened to walk away if the defender was sold.
As a result, the transfer to Anfield was called off, and Liverpool are now expected to return with another approach next summer, when the 25-year-old will be available on a free transfer.
Steve Parish has since confirmed that Palace’s maiden European campaign was the decisive factor in keeping hold of their skipper, who will be free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with clubs outside England from January 1.
“It’s a difficult decision,” Parish told talkSPORT.
“It’s as simple as that these things are never black and white.
“I decided in the end that, based on the advice that I got and with what I think, that we would have a better season if we kept Marc.
“We don’t guess about these things. If you look at it rationally, if you look at what is worth the place in the Premier League, the fact that we’re in the Conference League for the first time in our history, this is a fairly unusual set of circumstances in which to keep a player.
“If we were fighting between the difference of 10th and 14th, if that was going to be the difference between keeping Marc and letting Marc go, then probably we would have said: ‘Right, we should take the money’.”
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