According to reports, Liverpool have responded to Crystal Palace’s ‘bluff’ over Marc Guehi after missing out on the centre-back on deadline day.
Liverpool’s move to Guehi fell through on deadline day as Crystal Palace decided to pull the plug at the eleventh hour.
Guehi is considered one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League, but he was available for a cut-price fee in the summer as he is in the final year of his contract.
Liverpool reached an agreement with Palace to sign Guehi for around £35m on deadline day, but Palace withdrew from talks after failing to land West Ham newbie Igior Julio from Brighton as a replacement.
This is a blow for Liverpool, whose summer transfer window was nearly perfect after they invested around £415m on signings as the biggest spenders in Europe.
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Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez were their most notable signings, but following their failure to land Guehi, they would be short at centre-back if Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate pick up an injury.
Despite this, a report over the weekend claimed Liverpool are ‘adamant’ that they have no intention of making a new bid for Guehi in January as they intend to wait until next summer to sign him on a free transfer.
The Telegraph have since confirmed that Liverpool’s ‘new plan’ is to sign Guehi on a free transfer, as they ‘understand that he sees his long-term future at Anfield’, though ‘other clubs are believed to be ready to rival them for his signature’.
Regarding this interest, it is noted that Liverpool ‘see the referencing of other clubs as a bluff to bring them back to the table on January 1, so far as they are concerned, it was £35 million for Guehi in the summer or a free transfer next year’.
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Despite this, Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke is reporting that Real Madrid are ‘ready to offer a huge signing-on fee’ to beat Liverpool in the race to sign Guehi next year.
O’Rourke explained: “We know how good the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus are at landing free agents.
“They do specialise in that, to try and sign players on free transfers, usually with the offer of a huge signing-on fee as well.
“Obviously it’s hard to compete with the likes of Real Madrid when it comes to signing [under-contract] players as well.
“Liverpool have now done so much work on Guehi that they’ll be hopeful that, although they did miss out last-minute in this window, they can finally get a deal done.
“[That will] either be in January if the situation arises, or on a free transfer next summer.”