Man City signed Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, despite heavy interest from Liverpool in the England star.placeholder image
Man City signed Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, despite heavy interest from Liverpool in the England star. | Getty Images
Man City signed Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, despite heavy interest from Liverpool in the England star.
Man City have made two blockbuster signings in January, who could be the difference between winning the title and missing out to Arsenal. They first signed Antoine Semenyo, who has already scored three goals in four games under Pep Guardiola.
Guehi joined for just £20m, which is a bargain, considering that Liverpool nearly paid £35m for him in the summer. The Reds were hoping to sign him too, but the England international chose to join Man City instead, in what was arguably the story of the January window.
Guehi says Stones and Foden convinced him to join Man City
It didn’t take long for Guehi to get thrust into Guardiola’s starting XI, as he made his debut against Wolves just five days after joining the club from Palace. He will likely be a major part of City’s defence for the remainder of the season, and so he must settle in quickly.
Many were left surprised when Guehi joined Man City rather than Liverpool, as all the talk around the England star was about him going to Anfield, but he has now revealed why he chose to snub a move to join the Reds.
In his post-match interview after making his debut against Wolves, Guehi revealed that Man City and England teammates Phil Foden and John Stones convinced him to make the move to play under Guardiola. He was quoted by Sports Illustrated: “We've been talking for quite a while, and obviously talked with different clubs.
“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. Phil and John, conversations with the manager, conversations with [director of football] Hugo [Viana], so it's been great.”
When will Dias, Stones and Gvardiol return?
Seeing as Guehi is now the main centre-back option at City, he will hope that teammates Dias, Stones and Gvardiol will return as soon as possible to give the Cityzens their best chance to catch up, and potentially overtake Liverpool.
Gvardiol, as mentioned is out for a longer period. He is set to miss at least a further three months due to a calf injury, meaning he may be able to make a return before the end of the season, but it will be latter stages.
Dias and Stones are set to return before then, as they should both be back in action for City next month. Stones is expected to return later in February with his hamstring injury, whereas Dias is expected to return earlier in the month, which will be a huge boost to Guardiola.
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