Expert tells Richard Hughes how he could persuade Palace to sell Guehi to Liverpool this month

One football finance expert has drafted a sales pitch that Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes could use to try and convince Crystal Palace to sell Marc Guehi this month.

The Reds thought they’d got their man at the end of last summer after a £35m deal was agreed between the two clubs, only for Selhurst Park chiefs to pull the plug in the final hours of deadline day as they wouldn’t have had time to replace their captain.

The 25-year-old has continued to be linked with a move to Anfield ever since, although Sami Mokbel and Shamoon Hafez reported for BBC Sport on Monday that Manchester City have shown a growing interest in a swoop for the England international, who’s into the final six months of his current contract.

Liverpool told how they could persuade Palace to sell Guehi

Stefan Borson – former financial adviser to Man City – has claimed that prospective suitors such as Liverpool should put Palace chiefs ‘on the spot’ and remind them of how much money they could lose out on if they refuse to sell Guehi in January and let him leave in the summer for nothing.

He told Football Insider: “I wouldn’t be surprised if they found somebody in that kind of £50m-£60m level or if they did the Marc Guehi signing if they could get that over the line for, let’s say, £35m.

“Somebody’s going to have to put Crystal Palace on the spot and say, ‘Look, you’ve got zero coming in the summer if you hold him. What do you want to do? Keep a player for let’s say 30 matches total, including Europe, for £35m or do you want to sell him at the end of January?’

“I think it’s going to be one of those ‘watch this space’ on deadline day. Does somebody want to pay £35m for Guehi? Obviously, the most likely team to do that is Liverpool.”

Liverpool and Palace both face huge dilemmas over Guehi

For both Liverpool and Palace, there’s a significant dilemma to consider regarding a potential transfer for Guehi this month.

From the Reds’ perspective, do they bide their time and wait until the summer when they could sign him for free, or do they act now and bring in some much-needed reinforcement at centre-back in the form of a Premier League-proven player?

For the Eagles, do they take the cash now and risk losing an integral presence in an already stretched squad, or do they decide that a £35m hit is worth it to have their captain for the remainder of this season?

Liverpool were actually in a largely similar scenario 12 months ago when Real Madrid made an approach to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold for £20m, which was turned down as the Anfield hierarchy preferred to have him for the rest of the campaign and lose him for a much smaller sum in the summer.

We’d very much understand if there was an identical thought process at Selhurst Park in terms of choosing six more months of Guehi and losing him for free, instead of banking £35m for him now but trying to navigate the second half of the season without him.

The key consideration for Hughes must be whether holding out until the summer would be worth it if signing the Palace skipper now could prove the difference between qualifying for the Champions League and missing out on the vast riches which comes with participating in that tournament.

Now that Man City are seemingly in for the 25-year-old, Liverpool cannot afford to come away from this whole saga with any regrets. If they end up not signing the England centre-back, it mustn’t be for a want of trying.

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