Liverpool make January Marc Guehi transfer decision with 'quick fix' ruled out
Liverpool seemed certain to sign Marc Guehi, however, a decision has been made that could see the England centre-half move elsewhere.
Liverpool won’t have a lot of work to do in the January transfer window given the quantity and quality of work done in the summer.
The next priorities for Richard Hughes are the contracts of those players who are into the last 12 months of their current deals with a decision to be made on Andy Robertson and negotiations with Ibrahima Konate said to be progressing nicely. The France international has suffered a dip in form of late and being able to concentrate on his football again should make a difference. If there is one area of the park that needs to be addressed it is at centre-half due to the injury to Giovanni Leoni and the long-term doubts about Konate and Joe Gomez.
Liverpool make January Marc Guehi decision
The other obvious reason, is that Liverpool nearly signed Marc Guehi as the hours ticked by on transfer deadline day. If they wanted the England international then, for around £40m, the smart thinking suggests that with one less senior centre-half available, that they will still want him when the window re-opens in January. However, according to Lewis Steele of The Daily Mail, the Reds’ recruitment team are adamant that the Crystal Palace will not be a winter target: “It has been suggested in recent weeks that Liverpool will certainly not sign Marc Guehi in the January transfer window and instead wait until next summer when he is out of contract, as spending money on a quick fix is not in the philosophy.
“Liverpool are insistent that they will not be signing Guehi in January but remember the word in late August was that Alexander Isak would not be signing. Let’s see if they rethink their approach. Also, those saying that Liverpool are light defensively because of Leoni’s injury are missing the point that, if Guehi was signed on time, Gomez would have probably been given the green light to depart as AC Milan and others circled.”
Why Guehi might turn Liverpool down now
Steele is right, Gomez was all set to fly to Italy to complete a medical with AC Milan, only for the Serie A giants to pull the plug as time ran out on deadline day. Guehi wasn’t being signed as a replacement for Konate, he was being signed as an upgrade on Gomez with Leoni having the potential to one day be the long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk. There was a clear plan, but when Palace failed to find sign reinforcements to let Guehi leave, the domino effect kicked in.
The much-publicised problem now, is that Guehi will no longer cost as much as £40m which means that other clubs will see him as a much more attractive option. Liverpool might well want to save a bit of money by waiting until the summer although by doing this they are bringing other teams into play and gambling on the player deciding to stay in the Premier League rather than moving to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich where he has England and former club teammates. The other factor is if Konate signs a new contract between now and the end of the season, would Guehi pick Liverpool knowing that he might not be guaranteed to be first choice? It might not be the right time to sign Guehi in January, the problem is, it might be the last chance they get.