Steve Parish stopped Newcastle United signing Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace this summer.
The Magpies tried extremely hard to bring the 24-year-old to St James’ Park, but every offer that Newcastle United made was rebuffed.
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Despite the lengthy negotiations, there had been an expectation that he would arrive. Paul Mitchell thought he could sign Marc Guehi, as he looked to do his first major deal as Newcastle United’s sporting director.
However, Mitchell was wrong. Newcastle pulled out of the Guehi deal on August 29th, and told Crystal Palace on deadline day that they would not be increasing their £70million offer.
The deal was off, and Steve Parish was able to retain the services of his captain.
Steve Parish expected Marc Guehi to leave Crystal Palace
It was a hugely frustrating situation, as Parish got the better of the Magpies.
Previously, Parish said Newcastle would have to pay ‘superstar money’ for Guehi, and clearly that did not happen.
Now Parish has spoken to Sky Sports, and explained exactly why Guehi has remained at Selhurst Park after initially expecting him to leave the club.
Steve Parish, Chariman of Crystal Palace prior to the Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace at City Ground on March 30,…
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
“I don’t think the window worked out exactly the same format that we thought it would,” he said.
“Maybe we thought at the beginning it’d be more likely that Marc Guehi went and we kept Joachim Andersen.
“We accepted that bid [for Andersen] which then made it very difficult really to sell both of our starting centre-backs in one window.
“That’s not to say it wasn’t still an outside possibility that we got to the right number but then Chadi Riad got injured. That doesn’t look quite as bad as it seems but it still left us very light and really made it impossible for us to consider at that point.”
Parish wants to sell to clubs like Newcastle
Parish then went on to say that he wants to sell players to clubs like Newcastle, who have ambitions of competing in the Champions League on a regular basis.
“We’re proud of the fact that Michael Olise’s gone to Bayern Munich,” he said.
“We want to be selling to the top clubs, or to clubs like Newcastle who’ve got great aspirations and have recently been in the Champions League.
“So we have to manage all of those things. We won’t get really great young talent to come to us if they think they’re going to be stuck.”
Newcastle should have backed out of Marc Guehi deal sooner
While Newcastle fans will take Parish’s words with a pinch of salt, there was clearly a belief that a deal would get done.
However, the situation began to change when Joachim Andersen became the subject of interest from Fulham. That made it even more difficult for Newcastle to sign Guehi, and then another challenge emerged when Chadi Riad got injured.
In truth, Newcastle should have pulled out of the Guehi deal sooner. The fact it dragged on for so long without a positive outcome for the Magpies does not reflect well on the recruitment team. Mitchell will be devastated that he did not deliver a major signing, in what was his first transfer window in charge.
Now Newcastle are slightly light at centre-back until January, when they will be able to address the position again. It has been reported that Newcastle will almost certainly target Guehi again, and there is a chance he could be a bit cheaper if his contract situation remains the same.
The England international’s Palace contract expires in 2026, and it has been reported that Guehi is in no rush to sign a new deal.
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