Though Liverpool’s interest in Marc Guehi has quietened in recent weeks, the club are expected to contact Crystal Palace in the “not-too-distant future.”
It is a month since reports first emerged over Liverpool pursuing Crystal Palace centre-back Guehi and many would have hoped for a resolution by now.
The sad passing of Diogo Jota rightly stalled any developments on the transfer front, however, and though it may now be mid-July there should be no concern over a lack of movement.
Liverpool are still expected to push for an agreement with Palace and BBC Sport’s Sami Mokbel believes there is a “deal to be done.”
Speaking to The Redmen TV, Mokbel explained: “That interest is ongoing.
“My understanding at the moment is that there isn’t anything club-to-club yet. I expect that to happen in some form or another in the not-too-distant future.
“It’s down to the clubs reaching an agreement. I don’t know if it’ll be necessarily that easy, knowing how Palace operate.”
Palace are reported to value Guehi at £65 million, but with only a year left on his contract and no extension in the works it seems unlikely they will achieve that figure.
However, Mokbel suggested that Liverpool would be unwise to attempt a lowball offer, with more cordial club-to-club contact advised first.
“I think what would be wise from all parties in this situation would be to start the formal part of the deal, go through the front door, speak about a possible fee rather than just slapping a bid on the table, see if they can reach a middle ground,” he continued.
“I think if Liverpool were to just go in with a low formal bid, what may happen is that you could risk antagonising the selling club.
“I don’t think you really want that, so if they can, I think all parties probably realise that there is a deal to be done here.”
Clearly those within Liverpool’s recruitment setup will already know this, particularly having likely already been in talks with Guehi’s representatives over the mechanics of any deal.
The Palace captain himself is clearly open to a move to Anfield – as most players would be – but the selling club’s stance could make matters difficult.
A fee closer to the £40 million mark seems realistic, and would largely be covered by Jarell Quansah‘s £35 million switch to Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the summer.
But it may take careful negotiating with Palace in order to strike an agreement anywhere close to that.
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