Man Utd gatecrash £45m Tottenham move for Prem starter that’ll also leave Arsenal plan in tatters
Man Utd have emerged as a credible contender to snap up Crystal Palace centre-back, Marc Guehi, and a move would play havoc with both Tottenham and Arsenal’s transfer plans, per reports.
Guehi, 22, was an £18m signing when joining Crystal Palace from Chelsea in 2022. The centre-half has gone on to strike up a formidable partnership with Joachim Andersen and is now a regular in Gareth Southgate’s England squads.
However, his rapid rise has not gone unnoticed, with both north London heavyweights spying a move.
Indeed, both Football Transfers and Football Insider put Tottenham in the frame for a £45m move. Spurs’ season has been crippled by defensive deficiencies and the arrival of Guehi would be a tremendous first step in the right direction.
However, the Evening Standard more recently put Arsenal in the mix too. The Gunners’ season capitulated without William Saliba as Gabriel Magalhaes’ usual partner at the back.
Rob Holding did what he could, though in truth it was very little. January signing Jakub Kiwior fared little better when Holding was relegated back to the bench.
To avoid scenarios where a single injury can derail an entire campaign, the Standard claimed Arsenal were eyeing Guehi up.
As a right-footer, he’d be natural competition for Saliba. However, he is also comfortable operating on the left side, as he so often does at Selhurst Park given Andersen too is right-footed.
But according to a fresh update from FootMercato, Man Utd could torpedo both Tottenham and Arsenal’s plans.
Tottenham, Arsenal at Man Utd’s mercy
They state the Red Devils wish to strengthen their centre-half position this summer and are namechecked as being in the race to land Guehi. Until now, links between Guehi and Man Utd had been sparse.
United’s transfer priority is signing an elite-level centre-forward. However, in the event Harry Maguire is axed – as the Manchester Evening News expect he will be – a replacement will be required.
Napoli’s Kim Min-jae has been heavily linked, though the South Korean’s entourage recently put a move to United on ice.
Encouragingly for Erik ten Hag, FootMercato report Crystal Palace won’t put up much of a fight if and when the bids for Guehi are lodged.
In their words, ‘Crystal Palace is not against parting with [Guehi] and will not retain [him]’. But before that can happen, a sizeable offer must first be tabled, of course.
Football Transfers reported Palace will demand £65m before parting ways with their star centre-half this summer. The outlet claimed Tottenham believe a more realistic valuation is £45m.
That sum would still represent almost three times the figure Palace paid Chelsea less than two years ago. Something that will embolden Palace to try and drive up the price is the fact Chelsea inserted a sell-on clause into the deal.
In the event Man Utd do move for Guehi, the biggest blow would be suffered by Tottenham.
Guehi would become an almost certain starter upon arriving at Spurs, though the same cannot be said at the Emirates given the presence of Saliba.
Regardless, removing Guehi from the market would force Arsenal into a re-think on a position that has cost them dearly down the stretch.
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