Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guéhi has made it clear his will not join Liverpool this summer without being guaranteed a role as a regular starter, a report has claimed.
Liverpool have already agreed £146 million ($196.5 million) worth of new transfers this summer, after signing Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Milos Kerkez could also soon arrive from Bournemouth to take that amount to just shy of £190 million ($255.7 million).
The Reds didn’t recruit anyone last summer, before storming to the Premier League title as Arne Slot took the squad he inherited from Jürgen Klopp to another level. That, combined with player sales this year, has given Liverpool plenty of money to spend on improving the squad.
Around £20 million ($26.9 million) has been brought back into the club from Caoimhín Kelleher and Trent Alexander-Arnold joining Brentford and Real Madrid respectively.
Sky Sports reports that Bayer Leverkusen are also set to agree to a package worth more than £34 million ($45.8 million) for back-up centre-back Jarrel Quansah. Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold and Quansah are all home-grown, too, a big tick for PSR compliance.
But the likelihood of Quansah being replaced with Guéhi appears slim at this stage.
Liverpool are thought to have held long-term interest in Guéhi, who has been part of England’s best XI for the past year. But it is claimed that, in addition to facing competition from Arsenal and other clubs, Guéhi wants assurance of being a regular starter if he leaves Palace.
Quansah departing Liverpool doesn’t make a space in the team. The key issue there is the future of Ibrahima Konaté, the usual partner alongside Virgil van Dijk. The Frenchman has only a single season left on his contract and has been linked with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Avoiding a repeat of the Alexander-Arnold situation would obviously be preferrable for Liverpool. Similarly, though, Guéhi is also about to enter the final year of his own contract at Selhurst Park.
If Konaté stays this summer, Liverpool couldn’t meet Guéhi’s expectations. But if Konaté were to be sold should it become clear that contract talks will be unsuccessful, it would open things up.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liverpool Rocked by Transfer Target’s ‘Demand’, Lucrative Sale Nears.
