2 weeks ago
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Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi seemed to have put his club woes behind him when he arrived at St George's Park for England duty on Tuesday.
The Eagles captain wanted to leave the club this summer to join Liverpool for £35million, and came extremely close to doing so on Monday's deadline day when he agreed personal terms, underwent a medical and saw a Reds bid accepted.
Palace had seemingly assumed they were set to sign a replacement in the final hours of the transfer window, with Brazil defender Igor Julio lined up for a season-long loan switch from rivals Brighton.
When that was communicated to Liverpool, the process of completing the move began, but Arne Slot's side still had to wait for the green light from Palace, who wanted a left-sided centre back literally through the door before giving that.
Igor was set to join Palace but instead went to West Ham. That left Oliver Glasner's side high and dry, and they had no issues pulling the plug.
Though Guehi wanted the move, however, he will remain professional at Palace but must now turn attentions to England duty with Thomas Tuchel's side ahead of their games over the next fortnight.
Marc Guehi was in good spirits as he arrived for England duty a matter of hours after his move to Liverpool collapsed
Guehi was set to seal a move to the Reds but Crystal Palace pulled out after failing to find an adequate replacement
The Three Lions will face Andorra and Serbia in World Cup qualifiers, with the first game at Villa Park on Saturday evening and the second away on Tuesday.
So far, Tuchel's men have won all three of their games, beating Albania 2-0, Latvia 3-0 and Andorra 1-0.
Guehi was an unused substitute in the first game, but played 90 minutes in the second. He was left out of the squad for the third game after suffering a face injury.
At England's strongest, Guehi is likely in the side at centre back. It is therefore possible he will be a substitute against Andorra, but play against Serbia.
The 25-year-old was snapped by the FA as he arrived at England's training base on Tuesday afternoon, wearing his England tracksuit and donning a black suitcase.
He showed no sign of being disappointed with the collapse of the move to Liverpool, and will now likely move for an even cheaper fee in January or for free next summer when his contract expires.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner made clear over the weekend that he did not want to lose Guehi without a replacement lined up, stressing the defender was 'necessary' to the club's hopes of enjoying a successful season.
'We had a meeting in March where we talked about the situation and we had an agreement that we could sell Marc if we had the right replacement in,' Glasner explained. 'We wanted to have this replacement at the beginning of pre-season to be independent.
Oliver Glasner was the person behind the decision to keep Guehi at the club for at least a few more months
'That was on July 9 when the season started. It's August 31 and there is no replacement in the building so it's clear one part of the agreement is not fulfilled. That means we can't sell Marc. It's not a wish or gift for Oliver Glasner, it's necessary for playing a successful season.'
Guehi, who has 23 England caps, scored in Palace's 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday, but declined to address the transfer speculation afterwards. 'All I know is when you score goals like that it is always down to team performance,' he said.
The collapse came amid a frantic close to the window that still saw Liverpool complete a British-record £125m deal for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, while elsewhere Arsenal landed Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie and Tottenham confirmed the shock signing of Randal Kolo Muani on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
