Liverpool head coach Arne Slot could be forced to alter his formation if the club signs Marc Guehi this summer, with a three-back system suggested to complement Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
Guehi continues to be heavily linked with Liverpool, and the Palace defender only has 12 months remaining on his contract. Palace has also been in talks with Sporting Lisbon for Ivorian defender Ousmane Diomande, who is touted as Guehi's replacement.
Palace is standing firm on its $88 million price tag, a fee that Liverpool isn't willing to pay. The Reds could copy Real Madrid's strategy with Trent Alexander-Arnold and attempt to secure him for free next summer. Should Guehi join Liverpool within the next 12 months, Slot may have to reshuffle his back line.
Sky Sports journalist Peter Smith told The Redmen TV on YouTube: "Frimpong has come in, a player who plays so high on the right and loves to get forward, Kerkez loves bombing down that left side as well. I wonder if there is a thought in Arne Slot’s mind about could there ever be a back three at Liverpool.
"You would have a Guehi and Van Dijk sitting, as he gets older. Having to do less of the stepping out and he can use his knowledge and reading of the game, with Konate on the right and the two wing backs bombing on.
"Guehi could then step into midfield, contribute with passes, and that would let him continue on that left side of a defense that we know he likes to do."
Van Dijk and Konate could be complemented by Guehi
Van Dijk and Konate could be complemented by Guehi (Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
There is no guarantee that Guehi will join Liverpool this summer. Palace rejected offers in the region of $95 million for Guehi over the past two windows, and the club is set to compete in Europe for the first time next season.
However, club chairman Steve Parish has admitted that Palace is a 'trading club' and the organization won't want to lose Guehi for free. Speaking on the 'It's Called Soccer' podcast before the FA Cup final, Parish said: "The first thing is we need to stay in the division, so that's the first north star, and that's obviously not easy as we can see from even Man United and Tottenham this year.
"They're not really close to relegation, but that's arguably because we have all taken a lot of points this year off the bottom three clubs. Anything that increases the risk of that dramatically, it's very difficult to find a way to do it.
"After that, then, of course, we will be a trading club. We want to survive and thrive in this division for two reasons: firstly because financially you have to cover the cost of running the club and, secondly, because the kind of players we want to attract, we need to show them a pathway.
Guehi remains heavily linked with Liverpool
Guehi remains heavily linked with Liverpool (Image: Getty Images)
"We're a destination for those great pros that have still got a massive competitive instinct, still want to do well, still want to give everything when they cross the white line but they realise they're probably not quite going to get to the level above us. Then there are players that are on a journey and on their way to the Bayern Munich's and other clubs.
"We realized over a period of time that we have to be really open to it. The thing you have to do with clubs like ours is manage that process as well as you can, so not to lose too many. I remember Sir Alex [Ferguson] used to try and bring in two players every summer.
"He thought any more than that was very difficult to integrate in the squad. That would be the kind of number of your real premium talent that you would be really able to deal with in any one summer so trying to time things so you can manage that is what we're trying to do."