A manic transfer deadline day for Premier League clubs ended up being defined by two deals involving Liverpool: one that happened and another that didn’t.
The champions finally signed Alexander Isak from Newcastle, paying an English-record £125m for the striker to end the saga of the summer.
However, they missed out on Marc Guehi, despite agreeing a £35m fee with Crystal Palace. The England international had a medical in London after expressing a desire to leave and Palace had even prepared a farewell video for their captain.
However, Palace pulled the plug to ensure that Guehi will remain in south London until January at least.
Guehi has entered the final 12 months of his contract at Selhurst Park and has informed the club he is unwilling to sign an extension.
According to The Guardian, Guehi is angry after being denied the move and is considering whether to continue with the armband.
It was a messy end to a messy window for the Eagles.
As the deadline loomed closer, an extraordinarily public power struggle broke out between the club’s manager Oliver Glasner and chairman Steve Parish. Glasner was desperate for Guehi to stay; Parish wanted to sell.
Had Guehi been allowed to join Liverpool without a suitable back-up signed, Glasner may have walked out too.
“If he doesn’t want to sign a contract, we have to look at it,” Parish told Channel 5 after Palace’s 1-0 win over Fredrikstad in the first leg of their Conference League qualifying play-off tie on 21 August.
“Players leaving on a free is not an ideal situation for a football club.”
Shortly afterwards, a frustrated Glasner addressed the media.
“It’s easy to add 10 numbers [but] we need the right players. The profile has been defined for months.
“We missed replacing him early enough. That’s completely our fault and nobody else’s.”
Glasner’s stance was even stronger last Sunday after Guehi scored a stunning goal and marshalled Palace’s defence to a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, less than 24 hours before the deadline shut.
“We [Glasner and Parish] had a meeting in March… and we have an agreement that we could sell Marc if we have the right replacement in,” he revealed.
“We wanted to have this replacement at the beginning of the pre-season… [but] it’s August 31 and there is no replacement in the building, so it’s clear one part of the agreement is not fulfilled. That means we can’t sell Marc.”
Palace did buy a centre-back on deadline day, but Jaydee Canvot, bought for around £20m, has only recently turned 19 and made just 20 Ligue 1 appearances for Toulouse.
Moves for more established defenders – Brighton’s Igor Julio, who joined West Ham, and AC Milan’s Strahinja Pavlovic – fell through.
Managers are rarely as bullish regarding potential player sales as Glasner has been, but he is in a stronger position than most.
The Austrian is the most successful coach in Palace’s 120-year history after delivering the club’s first major trophy, the FA Cup in May, a triumph that also secured European qualification. That was followed by a Community Shield victory over Liverpool.
Like Guehi, his contract is due to expire next summer. He has been linked with Bayer Leverkusen, who sacked Erik ten Hag after just two league games at the weekend, although reports in Germany indicate that Edin Terzic and Xavi are the leading contenders.
Losing Glasner, given his outstanding achievements in SE25, his precarious contract situation and his stellar reputation across Europe, would be a PR disaster for Parish, who was under intense pressure from the fanbase before hiring the 51-year-old in February 2024.
Glasner is arguably the club’s most valuable asset, even more so than England internationals Guehi and Adam Wharton and star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.
He has proved to be an outstanding tactician and coach wherever he has been, taking LASK from the Austrian second division to Champions League qualifying, leading Eintracht Frankfurt to a first European trophy in 42 years and making history with Palace.
Palace fans will be relieved that Glasner is still in charge and happy that Guehi, an elite central defender, may stay for potentially another golden season.
Palace’s demotion from Europa to Conference League was harsh given the leniency that Uefa has applied to others in the tangled multi-club web.
Glasner has every chance of winning that competition too, given that two of its four winners have been Premier League clubs.
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That’s if Palace can put a summer of strain behind them and build on an encouraging start to the season in which they are unbeaten in six matches.
There was a welcome flurry of activity at the end of the window, with Yeremy Pino, Canvot and Christantus Uche joining earlier recruits Borna Sosa and Walter Benitez.
Extra additions were necessary, but the squad still looks a little light following the sale of Eberechi Eze, particularly with the added exertions of European football and an unforgiving Thursday-to-Sunday game schedule to navigate.
It all happened a little late for Glasner’s liking too. Wharton and Ismaila Sarr have both withdrawn from international duty with muscle injuries after playing six games in the space of 21 days for Palace.
Had signings arrived earlier in the summer, Glasner would have had more scope to rotate and the workload on a threadbare squad would have been less.
Parish, Glasner and Guehi are Palace’s most senior individuals in the boardroom, management team and playing squad.
Parish wanted to recoup a fee for Guehi; Glasner wanted signings early in the window; Guehi wanted to join Liverpool. Ultimately, none of them got what they wanted.
In the end, Parish ceded to Glasner’s wishes, perhaps begrudgingly accepting that a happy Glasner is worth more to Palace right now than £35m in the bank. Only time will tell whether that was the right call.
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