Manchester United have held exploratory talks with Crystal Palace over a move for highly-rated defender Marc Guehi
Manchester United have already spent more than £200million on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko to transform their forward line, and new head coach Ruben Amorim wants to strengthen the other areas of the pitch.
The midfield unit appears to be the next priority amid ongoing concerns over Casemiro’s waning powers and inconsistent performances over Manuel Ugarte. Kobbie Mainoo is also yet to cement his place in Ruben Amorim’s XI, which makes the addition of a defensive midfielder extremely vital. Alongside a No.6, it looks like the Portuguese tactician also wants to bring in a new centre-back.
This is because the Red Devils have also released Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans, while Lisandro Martinez remains out for the foreseeable future with an ACL injury sustained at the start of February. Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt also struggled with injury issues last season, while Ayden Heaven still lacks the bit of experience to start league games week in, week out.
Manchester United have held exploratory talks with Crystal Palace over a move for highly-rated defender Marc Guehi.
Manchester United make official approach for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi
Manchester United make approach for Crystal Palace skipper
According to an exclusive report from Football Transfers, Manchester United have made an official approach for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi. It was an exploratory approach at this stage done to understand the financials over a deal and whether the player would be willing to join Amorim’s forces this summer.
Marc Guehi has now entered the final 12 months of his deal at Selhurst Park, and appears no closer to extending his contract. The centre-back is understood to be open to remaining with Crystal Palace until 2026, at which point he can leave on a free transfer.
The England international has been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks and months, and Palace chairman Steve Parish stated last week that the club will sell their star defender this summer to avoid losing him on a free transfer in 2026. Newcastle United failed with multiple bids in excess of £50m for Guehi last summer, while Tottenham Hotspur had an offer worth up to £70m rejected during the 2025 January transfer window.
Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi could be a fantastic long-term replacement for Harry Maguire at Manchester United
The aforementioned report adds Man United have identified Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munich as an alternative option to Guehi, with the France international out of contract at the end of 2025/26 season.
Guehi would be a brilliant signing for Man United
Guehi has seen enhanced his stock in recent times, featuring for England at the 2024 European Championship and playing a key part of a rock-solid defence that only conceded four goals en route to the final, whilst also making Palace history by captaining them to the FA Cup after beating Manchester City back in May. He also led Oliver Glasner’s side to Community Shield victory over Liverpool last weekend, with the Eagles winning on penalty shootout.
At 25, the England international is at the perfect age to walk into United and improve the spine of our defence. He has been playing in Glasner’s back-three system for over a year now, and before that, also marshalled the troops under Patrick Vieira. This would make it easy for him to adapt to Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system and hit the ground running at Old Trafford if a deal goes through.
With Liverpool holding fresh talks with Palace over a move for Guehi, INEOS must up their ante and make a bid if we are concretely interested in signing him.