Liverpool’s hopes of pulling off a potentially astonishing heist in the final few days of the transfer window may have ended with news of an impending transaction involving another player.
On Tuesday, David Ornstein reported for The Athletic that Marc Guehi is ‘appreciated’ by Anfield chiefs, amid claims that Newcastle could end their pursuit of the Crystal Palace defender if their latest offer of £60m (plus £5m in add-ons) is rejected.
That appeared to open the door for the Reds to pounce on any hesitation from the Tyneside club, but subsequent updates from Fabrizio Romano suggest that a move for the England international – who Joe Hart hailed as a ‘standout performer‘ at Euro 2024 – might now be out of the question.
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The Italian stated in his Daily Briefing on Wednesday morning that ‘it’s not going to be easy’ for Liverpool (or anyone) to sign the 24-year-old now that the journalist has given his trademark ‘here we go’ on X to a £30m transfer to Fulham for another Eagles centre-back in Joachim Andersen.
Joachim Andersen to Fulham, here we go! Deal in place for £30m package as Andersen's new agents are completing personal terms details.
Medical tests booked, Andersen will leave Crystal Palace to join Marco Silva's project.
Fulham also count on Sander Berge to sign today. pic.twitter.com/OiIjN9rgS7
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 21, 2024
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It probably would’ve taken something special from Liverpool to land Guehi this close to the transfer deadline, with Palace wanting £65m straight plus £5m in bonuses for the player (Ornstein), but Andersen’s impending exit to Fulham makes it highly improbable that the Eagles will sell another key centre-back at this stage.
It leaves the Reds with four senior players in that area of the squad – Sepp van den Berg now looks certain to leave for either Brentford or Bayer Leverkusen – and Arne Slot’s defensive depth could be narrowed further if, as has been speculated, Joe Gomez departs in the next few days.
That’d make it a two-way battle between Jarell Quansah and Ibrahima Konate to start alongside Virgil van Dijk, with Arne Slot needing to delve into the academy ranks if cover is needed, which isn’t implausible given the Frenchman’s injury record.
Such a situation would be massively risky for Liverpool, especially once European and domestic cup commitments make three games in seven/eight days a regular occurrence, so we’d hope that Richard Hughes has an ace up his sleeve.
We’d love it to be Guehi, but it’d very hard to envisage Palace selling the England defender now that Andersen seems to be on his way across London.
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