Liverpool may have been toppled as the team in pole position to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi.
When the team sheets were distributed at Villa Park on Sunday evening, 25 hours and change before the transfer deadline, there were two noteworthy selections.
The first was Aston Villa goalkeeper Marco Bizot. The 34-year-old was named in Unai Emerys starting line-up for the second time in three Premier League matches, this time because Emiliano Martinez was deemed too distracted by a possible move to Manchester United.
An impossible situation for the Eagles
The second was Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, also close to a transfer but seemingly more capable of fulfilling the basic requirements of a professional footballer. Guehi had a comfortable evening and capped it off with a tremendous goal that was hailed as a glorious goodbye.
Guehi was all set for Liverpool. With the Premier League champions keen to bring him in and Guehis contract up next summer, the fact that he remains a Palace player doesnt truly satisfy any party.
Liverpool didnt get their man and will face new competition for his signature next summer. Guehi, positive about the move but not of a mind to act up about it, isnt where he wanted to be.
Palace themselves made a costly decision to keep their captain on deadline day and massively increase the chances of losing him for free in a years time.
According to Sam Wallace of The Telegraph, thats exactly the situation theyd previously resolved to avoid: Over the past 12 months, the logic was that losing him for free in the summer was the doomsday scenario to be avoided at all costs."
Yet when push came to shove, with injuries to consider and Palaces determination to secure a replacement before allowing Guehi to leave still unmet, the England defender was retained.
Guehi was thrust into comparisons with Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa, players who have been rather more proactive in securing their desired transfers this summer.
Isak and Wissa made themselves unavailable for selection and got what they wanted. Guehi remained professional to the last and didnt.
Yet it soon emerged that the precarious contract situation and conflicting priorities at Selhurst Park created significant tensions and could have been avoided for the right fee.
[Oliver] Glasner was looking from the perspective of a manager in four competitions this season and with a team currently playing some of the best football in the Premier League, reports Wallace. Glasner is understood to have dug his heels in to block a sale.
The job of the club, of course, takes in other considerations too including their long-term financial health.
A successor for Guehi would have enabled a transfer to Liverpool but, in the end, it all came down to the fee. Palace decided they could sacrifice �35 million and lose Guehi for nothing. A higher bid would have changed that.
Had Liverpool offered �55 million for Guehi then the deal would have been done, claims Wallace.
It may be Liverpool again this time next year, or even in January. Or it may be elsewhere, perhaps even Real Madrid, the worlds leading dealer in high-end free agents.
In FourFourTwos opinion, Palaces obvious move on deadline day was to take Liverpools money and run. Even with another successful season under his belt, losing Guehi for free is bound to sting.
But the real question, if reports are to be believed, is whether that �35 million in the coffers and on the books would have been worth Glasners resignation. Thats a much more difficult decision.
