Credit: Imago

Harri Burton

Sat 4 April 2026 16:00, UK

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Marc Guehi is a massive thorn in Arne Slot’s side, made even worse after Liverpool failed to sign him from Crystal Palace.

The Reds were right on the verge of sealing a deal for the talented England international last summer, only for Oliver Glasner to pull the plug on the move at the 11th hour.

Pep Guardiola took full advantage of that in January, with Man City launching a £20million bid for the 25-year-old, and quickly adding him to the squad to cement things at the back.

He played a key role as Man City thrashed Liverpool 4-0 in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, 4 April, and Slot will be regretting his club’s failure to sign the centre-back.

Marc Guehi clearly loves playing against Liverpool

The thought of coming up against Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai is not a nice one, but it clearly doesn’t faze Guehi in the slightest, at least not this season.

Across games with Palace and City, the 25-year-old has now come up against the Reds five times in the 2025-26 campaign, including beating them at Wembley Stadium in the Community Shield.

Not only has he been on the winning side on all of these occasions, other than being forced to penalties at Wembley, but he has also been key to these results.

He could now end his first season at the Etihad Stadium with two trophies – the Carabao Cup and FA Cup – and Liverpool will only be able to think about what could have been.

Which defenders could Arne Slot target this summer?

With Virgil van Dijk also no longer at his peak, and Ibrahima Konate set to leave on a free transfer, signing new defenders is an absolute must once the 2025-26 campaign comes to a close.

The Reds have already signed Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, but that won’t be enough to fix the very blatant issues at Anfield.

Liverpool have been linked with Marcos Senesi of Bournemouth, as well as Nottingham Forest’s Murillo, Nico Schlotterbeck of Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni.

Whichever defenders the club decide to go for, it is imperative that they don’t miss out as they did on Guehi, who continues to haunt those at Anfield after his failed switch last summer.