Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish warned that his side will likely be forced to sell vice-captain Marc Guéhi if he continues to refuse to sign a new contract.
The England international has a deal with the Eagles which expires in June and is reportedly prepared to remain in south London before leaving on a free transfer next summer. Palace simply can’t afford that scenario.
In the aftermath of Sunday’s Community Shield triumph over Liverpool, Parish was asked if he would be prepared to sell the talismanic defender this year. “We’d have to do that, of course,” the chairman sighed.
“For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it’s a problem for us unfortunately. [Last summer] Joachim [Anderson] went [to Fulham] and we couldn’t afford to lose both. We then had another bid in January but that was a different situation. We’ll just have to see what happens. But, you know, it needs a new contract or a conclusion of some kind.”
Palace are expected to demand in the region of £40 million ($53.9 million) for their 25-year-old vice-captain. Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have all been credited with interest in Guéhi, yet Liverpool are billed as the favourites in this competitive race. The Daily Mail claim that the two clubs held advanced discussions over the same weekend as the Community Shield.
Eberechi Eze is another Palace starlet keenly admired by the rest of the division. Arsenal and Tottenham are both thought to be sniffing around the attacking midfielder, whose future remains desperately uncertain. “As far as people being here or not being here, it depends,” Parish cryptically offered. “If it’s the right decision for the football club and for them, nobody can make anyone go, then there’ll be some changes.”
“The Premier League is kind of crazy, the money that people spend and the kind of financial jeopardy that people take,” Palace’s chairman continued. “So I have to look at everything around [that].
“We’ll do everything we can in the next few weeks to give ourselves the best chance. But at the end of the day, the amount of money we’ve got isn’t infinite.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Marc Guehi: Crystal Palace Chief Reveals Transfer Plan for Chelsea, Liverpool Target.
