'I never threatened to leave' - Oliver Glasner shares thought on Marc Guehi's failed £35m Liverpool transfer
Marc Guehi was halfway through his medical when his proposed move to Liverpool was cancelled in the final hours of deadline day
Oliver Glasner says he never threatened to resign from his position as Crystal Palace manager after successfully denying club captain Marc Guehi a move to Premier League champions Liverpool on deadline day.
A number of outlets, including Football Insider and talkSPORT claimed that the relationship between Glasner and his chairman Steve Parish began to sour when Crystal Palace accepted a £35m offer from champions Liverpool to sign the defender. The former Frankfurt boss had already openly spoken about his frustration at the lack of transfer activity from the club in the weeks building up to deadline day, and was reported to have been incensed by the board’s decision to let Guehi depart due to his shortage of squad depth and experience in that position heading into a European campaign.
Alex Crook said at the time: “It’s been suggested to me, by sources close to Marc Guehi, that Oliver Glasner has played a direct role in this deal not going through because he threatened to walk away from Palace if his captain was sold without a replacement coming in. “
Commenting on those reports, Glasner told the media: “It’s the last time I want to talk about it... the Crystal Palace fans deserve to hear about how it really was. One, I never threatened to leave the club. Never. Two, after many discussions, the chairman asked me ‘do you think we can manage the season if we sell Marc?”
Glasner went onto discuss new signing Jaydee Canvot, a young prospect from Toulouse, but added that his first team minutes at this stage of his career was not comparable to Guehi. He added: “The most important thing, it was a happy ending. It was clear, for him, that he stuck to his contract. It is credit to Marc that he never threatened to strike. He is a very honest person, that is why I was never worried about this situation.”
Marc Guehi, who helped the Eagles to their first ever major trophy last season, had already agreed personal terms with Liverpool and completed part of his medical with the champions when he was told to return to Selhurst Park in a dramatic transfer scramble on deadline day.
It came as a huge blow to Arne Slot, who had hoped to enhance his team’s defensive options ahead of this season’s title defence. Many experts saw Guehi as a natural successor to Ibrahima Konate amid uncertainty surrounding the French international’s long-term future at Anfield, with well documented interest from Real Madrid making the headlines.
“We have an agreement that if we’re selling Marc we have the right replacement in. We wanted to have this replacement at the beginning of the pre-season. There’s no replacement in the building, it’s clear one part of the agreement is not fulfilled. That means we can’t sell Marc,” explained Palace chairman Steve Parish when reflecting on the decision.It’s not a wish or a gift to Oliver Glasner, it’s necessary for playing a successful season. It’s a tempting situation but if we want to progress, we have to keep him. If we sell we accept a step back."
How Arne Slot reacted to Marc Guehi’s failed move to Liverpool
Arne Slot, speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to Burnley, admitted that Liverpool were trying to sign Guehi. But he was tight-lipped on whether the Reds will make another approach for the Eagles captain in the January transfer window.
“It would be ridiculous if I was going to deny that we were close to signing him,” said Liverpool head coach Slot. “I think it would be ridiculous if I was to deny that we were close to signing him. These things happen in football and it has happened to our players in the past that they thought they were so close to signing somewhere else and then at the last moment things changed, this can happen.
"For me, we would have liked to have signed him of course because we were in for him and if we feel we can strengthen the team with a chance in the market then we will not hesitate to do so and that is what we tried to do.
“We played Arsenal and [Ibrahima] Konate and [Virgil] van Dijk played an outstanding game and Joe Gomez came in 20 minutes before the end and did good as well. With us signing Giovanni Leoni who had his first international call up, it's not like all of a sudden we don't have options in that position anymore.
"It is a pity, not only for us but for the player I think. He is in a good place playing at Crystal Palace where he won the FA Cup and Community Shield with a very good manager as well. Let's see what the future brings for him and for us."
“Guehi, like Konate, has only one year remaining on his contract and has shown no interest in extending his contract with the South London club after a sensational five-year stint with the club. He’s been one of the top defender in the league for a longtime and was the subject of well documented interest from both Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur in previous transfer windows.”
It remains to be seen if the Reds will return to the table to try and negotiate a cut-price deal with the Eagles skipper, who scored in his most recent outing for England in a 5-0 win over Serbia, or whether Slot’s side will now wait until his contract expires to try and sign him on a free transfer instead. For the time being, it means that Liverpool have Virgil van Dijk, Konate, Joe Gomez and summer signing Giovanni Leoni as their main central defensive options, in what could be a challenging yet exciting 50+ game campaign.