“Marc and me, we have the same fate,” Oliver Glasner said with a smile. It was the eve of Crystal Palace’s meeting with Liverpool in the Community Shield and – not for the last time over the next few weeks – the unavoidable question of his captain’s future had just been broached.
Marc Guéhi had entered the final year of his contract at Palace and everyone knew a swift resolution was needed. “Of course, everybody wants Marc to sign a new contract,” said Glasner, who had broken off negotiations about extending his own deal after leading Palace to their first major trophy by winning the FA Cup a few weeks earlier. “It will be his decision. We never know what will happen in this sometimes crazy transfer market.”
Yet no one could have imagined quite how dramatically things would turn out. Having said after Palace defeated Arne Slot’s side on penalties at Wembley that “for players of that calibre to leave on a free, it’s a problem for us unfortunately”, a late U-turn on Guéhi’s future by the club’s chairman, Steve Parish, even managed to take the spotlight away from the conclusion to Alexander Isak’s drawn-out move to Anfield for a British record fee on deadline day.
It was a stunning victory for Glasner, who consistently made no secret of his opposition to Guéhi being sold so late in the window without an adequate replacement being secured. After beating Aston Villa 3-0 on Sunday evening in another impressive performance that established a club record of 14 matches unbeaten in all competitions as a top-flight club, the Austrian doubled down on his stance that Palace had not fulfilled a promise they made to him in March during a meeting about recruitment plans this summer.
But the surprise departure of the sporting director Dougie Freedman to Saudi Arabia a few days after that meeting – coupled with the uncertainty over which European competition Palace would be in after defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final – threw the club’s transfer plans into turmoil.
Liverpool had indicated all summer that they were willing to pay no more than £35m for Guéhi despite Palace turning down a £70m offer from Tottenham for the England international in January, with the 25-year-old having made it clear he wanted to join the Premier League champions and would not sign a new contract. Given that Chelsea were due a 20% sell-on clause after selling him in 2021 for around £18m, Parish wanted at least £40m and had lined up Sporting’s Ousmane Diomande as Guéhi’s replacement.
An injury to the Ivory Coast defender led to a frantic search for other options that is understood to have ended in failure minutes before the deadline. Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji, Lloyd Kelly of Juventus, Milan’s Strahinja Pavlovic and Mohammed Salisu of Monaco were just a few of the defenders targeted, although Palace were able to bring in the promising teenager Jaydee Canvot from Toulouse for £21m. Glasner is said to rate the France Under‑20 international as a huge prospect for the future but, understandably given that he has played only 14 Ligue 1 games, he did not see him as a player who could step into Guéhi’s boots immediately.
Parish is believed to have been undecided as late as 2pm on deadline day whether to accept Liverpool’s offer before eventually relenting. Glasner was informed of the news and once again made it clear that he was extremely unhappy, with the 51-year-old, who was never afraid to speak out about squad investment during spells in charge of Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, even threatening to quit before Parish changed his mind.
Meanwhile, Guéhi had already completed the first part of his medical in London and was shocked to be told that Palace had pulled the plug on his move. Unlike Isak, he has continued to play throughout all the speculation and is understood to have been left hugely disappointed. There is no question that he remains committed to Palace, however, even if Liverpool are likely to return in January when he will also be able to sign a pre-contract agreement for an overseas club. Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus are believed to have expressed an interest.
after newsletter promotion
For Parish, who has been heavily criticised by some Palace fans for what Glasner called a “passive” approach in the transfer window, Guéhi remaining in situ has resolved one headache but created several others. Work was meant to begin this summer on building a new main stand at Selhurst Park that some sources now expect will cost £250m. But with the focus having been elsewhere – European battles and transfer sagas – there is a risk of further delays on that project, despite planning permission having been granted in 2018.
The club-record sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal for a fee that could be worth up to £67.5m meant Palace made a profit of £16m in this window having brought in five new players, albeit with £17m due to Getafe as part of the deal to make Christantus Uche’s move permanent next year. Given that, losing out on £35m for Guéhi may not be such a financial disaster, especially if the club can recoup some money by selling him to Liverpool in January having had more time to find a suitable replacement.
But it is the future of Glasner that will be of most concern to Palace’s board. There was no sign of any extra investment from the new biggest shareholder, Woody Johnson, the American billionaire who owns the New York Jets, in the transfer window as they failed to persuade Club Brugge to part with Glasner’s top attacking target, Christos Tzolis. Unless that changes in January, keeping their hugely ambitious manager beyond this season will be perhaps the biggest challenge Parish has faced since rescuing the club from administration in 2010.
