Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner played a key role in blocking an exit for captain Marc Guehiplaceholder image
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner played a key role in blocking an exit for captain Marc Guehi | AFP via Getty Images
Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi saw a move to Liverpool fall through at the eleventh hour
Crystal Palace were one of the victors of transfer deadline day, as club captain Marc Guehi stayed at the club after the Eagles pulled out of a move to Liverpool at the eleventh hour.
Guehi was set to move to Anfield in a £35million deal, with an agreement reached and a medical underway when the south London club decided to pull the plug on negotiations due to their failure to sign a suitable replacement for the 25-year-old.
Palace were considering a swoop for Brighton & Hove Albion defender Igor Julio, but West Ham United hijacked the deal and the 27-year-old opted for a move to the London Stadium. With the prospect of a suitable deal being completed in time for the transfer deadline looking increasingly unlikely, Palace pulled Guehi’s move off the table and insisted that the England defender remain at Selhurst Park, despite potentially losing out on a £35m windfall as a result.
Oliver Glasner played key role in Guehi move collapsing
Reports on Monday night suggested that Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner played a key role in Guehi remaining at the club. The Express reported that the Austrian ‘threatened to quit’ if Guehi was sold, forcing the hand of owner Steve Parish, who opted to pull the plug on the sale of Guehi rather than risk losing his manager.
Glasner has, of course, brought arguably the best period in Crystal Palace’s history with trophy success this year - and has therefore earnt his right to have a say over transfer proceedings at the club. But the 51-year-old has now dug himself a hole where fans will feel betrayed if he does not now remain in the dugout at Selhurst Park for the long run.
Parish went against his own best business instincts by withdrawing from a significant £35m income for Guehi, who could conceivably leave for half that price in January or nothing at all next summer. Glasner must now carry out his end of the bargain and prove to the owner that he made the right decision.
Glasner must stay loyal to Crystal Palace
Another piece of major news on Monday, which will have made Parish’s decision to make over Guehi all the more harrowing, was that of Bayer Leverkusen sacking manager Erik ten Hag after just two league games. It is more than possible that Glasner may have walked out and straight into the top job at Leverkusen had Palace sold Guehi - something Parish evidently thought was too big a risk.
The reality remains that a European giant is on the search for a new manager. Glasner has significant Bundesliga experience with Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg and, therefore, a move to Leverkusen may have been attractive to him.
But after his show of strength to keep Guehi in SE25, Glasner must follow suit and stay at Crystal Palace for the long run. If he were to leave the club behind now, it would not do justice to Parish and the special project they have built together in south London.
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