Oliver Glasner has made it clear that he doesn’t want Liverpool target Marc Guehi to leave Crystal Palace in January
Oliver Glasner has doubled down on his desire to keep Marc Guehi at Crystal Palace in January. The England international is out of contract at the end of the season and has already informed the Eagles that he will not be signing an extension.
Liverpool were on the verge of signing the centre-back back in the summer, only to see Palace pull the plug on a £35m deal for Guehi at the 11th hour on transfer deadline day after failing to sign a replacement.
The Reds remain interested in the 25-year-old, who will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with overseas clubs from January 1, but will face a plethora of interest if they are to land the defender on a Bosman transfer.
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Glasner played a pivotal role in Palace blocking Guehi’s move to Liverpool in the summer following talks with chairman Steve Parish.
And ahead of the January transfer window opening later this week, the Austrian has made it clear that he wants his captain to stay put at Selhurst Park.
“Of course we want to keep everyone,” he bluntly replied following Palace’s loss to Spurs when asked what the club’s intentions were for Guehi in January.
And when asked if Palace will look to sign reinforcements in January, Glasner, who previously aired his frustration at the club’s limited summer transfer business, replied: “Let’s see… Everybody can be proud (of our year) but for me, it feels like we are not really far away from being really constantly in these areas (in the league table, competing in Europe and challenging for trophies).
“But to be honest, little things we are missing that are important to stay where we are.”
Glasner, who confirmed back in October that Guehi would not be signing a new contract with the clubhad previously revealed that he expected the defender to see out the season at Crystal Palace.
“I think Marc will stay until the end of the season,” he told reporters on Wednesday when speaking ahead of his side’s Conference League encounter against Finnish side Kuopion Palloseura earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot recently played down talk of the Reds signing a new centre-back in January despite losing Joe Gomez to a hamstring injury, having already seen Giovanni Leoni ruled out for the season after undergoing surgery on an ACL injury.
“First of all for himself but the injury of Giovanni Leoni is, of course, it has quite a lot of impact,” Slot said earlier this month. “If you have four centre backs for the season, two right and two left backs with Wata (Wataru Endo) and Ryan (Gravenberch) who can help you out, but then you have an ACL injury, that is not very helpful. It is tough.
“And unfortunately Joe is now out of the squad. In a season, these moments for most teams happen. Some teams have so many (options) but most other teams do not.
“This is our way of working at Liverpool. The outside world wants to believe we have unlimited money but that is not true.
“You insiders know – and you are the only ones because the outside world only talks about our spending – what we have brought in (money) to spend. “That is the way we work over here. You then have to accept that in certain games during a season you are short of a right full back.
“But we are still able to win. I fully believe in that way of working, by the way.”
