Stefan Borson: ‘Liverpool fans have disagreed with me’ about £10m Marc Guehi claim
Liverpool fans have disagreed with paying an extra £10million to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.
Guehi saw his move to Liverpool collapse on deadline day (1 September) following weeks of speculation surrounding his future.
Palace had agreed to sell their captain to Liverpool in a £35million deal, but Oliver Glasner’s side failed to sign a replacement.
Guehi will now remain at Selhurst Park until at least the January transfer window, with his contract set to expire in June 2026.
Football Insider revealed on 6 September Liverpool are ready to wait until next summer to sign Guehi despite foreign clubs being able to agree pre-contract terms with the 25-year-old from January onwards.
Liverpool could have paid Trent Alexander-Arnold ‘premium’
This article contains exclusive comment from Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser to Man City.
Bayern Munich have entered the race to sign Guehi, while he’s also been linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus.
If Palace decide to cash in on the England international in January, they will have to pay Chelsea a 20 per cent sell-on fee as part of the agreement that took him to Selhurst Park in 2021.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “Some Liverpool fans have disagreed with me on this, but I think they had a perfect summer aside from one little wrinkle.
“They played all situations really well, they negotiated, they leveraged their position really well, they knocked other clubs out of the running in terms of Wirtz and Isak. These players were then only going to Liverpool, so they had a clear run.
“They still paid big money, but it could have been worse if there’d have been competitive situations, so they played all those situations brilliantly. I think maybe on Guehi, they just overdid it, but £35million was a very good price.
“I know he’s only got a year left, but it’s kind of irrelevant if you really want the player. I think they might have changed the dynamic of the deal if they’d have said, look, just to get it over the line, we’ll give you another £10million.
“Very much like the situation with Alexander-Arnold in the summer, where Real Madrid could have said we’ll just wait until the contract expires on 30 June, he’ll join us on 30 June and he’ll play in the second half of the Club World Cup.
“But instead, they paid a strategic premium to get him early. They paid £10million. They obviously didn’t need to do that. Teams often will make a payment that’s not necessary, and it’s not just teams, it’s in business generally.
“You will pay a premium for something because strategically it works for you, and Liverpool could have chosen to do that.
“But I think they convinced themselves that they were going to get the player for this bargain £35million and, ultimately, at that price, it was probably slightly easier for Crystal Palace to reluctantly turn it down.”
Liverpool trigger £400m+ signing spree
Liverpool were the biggest spenders across the summer transfer window after making several new additions.
Arne Slot’s side spent £446million after signing Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, Armin Pecsi and Freddie Woodman.
The Reds will be back in action against Burnley on 14 September following the ongoing international break.
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