Manchester City defender Marc Guehi is happy his future has finally been resolved after a January move from Crystal Palace
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: Marc Guehi of Manchester City warms up prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Etihad Stadium on January 24, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Marc Guehi is now a Manchester City player(Image: )
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It may have felt like an eternity for Manchester City fans to see Marc Guehi play for them, given the defensive issues that have seen them slip up in the Premier League and Champions League this month. But spare a thought for the man himself, who is only just getting to grips with the reality that at last his future is certain.
"Not just a couple of weeks, I'd say a couple of years. It feels like it's been going on forever. But, you know, I'm just glad that I got to move over the line," he said after a clean sheet on his debut. "I'm really confident that this is the place for me to improve, to grow as a player. So I'm glad I could get over the line.
"Obviously, it's not easy leaving a club that I've been at for so long. They've done so much for me and I'm eternally grateful to them. But I'm just really glad I can be here. I wouldn't say a perfect start, I'm really hard on myself.
"I can always improve, like I say, I need to get up to speed with a lot of things. But it's good for the team to get that clean sheet. We want to push for success every season, to be honest. That's the mentality of the football club. But I think it's important that we just keep level-headed. Good win today and we just move on to one game at a time in the next one"
It isn’t just the fact that there was such interest from other teams in signing Guehi but the fact that he was so close to signing for Liverpool in September before a dramatic collapse on deadline day. The 25-year-old said on Saturday that he had ‘pretty much done’ his medical ahead of an Anfield move before Crystal Palace blocked the transfer at the 11th hour and 59th minute.
If the speculation around Guehi’s future and his own interests are something that many footballers have to deal with, this was an exceptional situation. It is to the England international’s immense credit then that he never stopped representing Palace and south London with everything he had; having scored against Villa the day before the transfer window closed in what could have been his farewell game, he provided a 97th minute assist for the winner against Liverpool the following month.
"I was okay. Yeah I was okay," he said. "My mindset is always: move on to the next one. But my mindset is what will be, will be. God's got a plan for me. Just move on to the next one. It was just focus on what I could do for Palace.
"For me, it would be doing Palace a disservice if I was acting a certain way because the club's given me everything. It's not me giving the club everything, they've given me everything. They give me the opportunity to play. They support us when things go well, things go bad. So, the least I can do is show up to work every single day, shut my mouth and keep my head down. I think that's the most important."
Such personality is craved at the top level, where mentality and the ability to perform despite external noise stands the best players out. City had been tracking Guehi for years and were planning to compete for his signature when his Palace deal ran out in June. Conversations with the player and his representatives never really ended, but things took an unexpected turn at the beginning of January when Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol suffered significant injuries in the same game.
With John Stones having also missed more than a month and no date - even now - for a possible comeback, sporting director Hugo Viana pushed the Guehi button early. It cost City another £20m in transfer fees and wages close to £300,000 a week, but the club are confident it will prove good value for a player that can replace Stones and is already likened to Dias by Guardiola after just a few training sessions.
City did their homework on the player and he did his on the club, speaking to England partner Stones and long-time teammate Phil Foden, who he won the Under-17 World Cup with, in addition to conversations with Viana and Guardiola.
"We've been talking for quite a while and obviously talked with different clubs." Guehi added. "I felt from conversations, through talking with some of the players here, that this was the place for me to improve, to get better and just to help as much as possible. I think it's a mixture of everything. I couldn't say it's down to one person, but it's definitely a mixture of everything. They just spoke so highly of the football club and the people at the football club.
"And for me, that's the most important. When you come to a place, you want to feel the love, the appreciation and the welcome. So far since I've been here, I've felt every bit of that."
If Guehi feels a relief knowing his future is now sorted, City can rest easier knowing they now have a player with such quality and ambition at the back to help them push for more trophies.