Barcelona stun Liverpool with sensational ploy to sign elite star for cut-price fee – report

Liverpool face a major battle to sign Marc Guehi in January, with a report revealing how much Barcelona believe they can get the Crystal Palace captain for.

Guehi came extremely close to joining Liverpool on deadline day. The centre-back was given permission to undergo a medical in London after Liverpool struck a £35million agreement with Palace and with the Eagles also entitled to a 10% cut of any future sale.

Guehi agreed a five-year contract with Liverpool and Palace had even prepared a farewell video, which had been leaked right here.

However, the deal fell through at the last minute. Palace decided not to sell as they could not get a top-class replacement in time.

Oliver Glasner warned the Palace hierarchy that he would consider walking away from the club if Guehi left, and the Austrian ultimately got his way.

Palace, however, now face losing even more money on the England international as his contract expires next summer.

That means he can either leave for a bargain fee in January or join a new club on a free transfer from July 1.

As per Catalan outlet El Nacional, Barcelona are preparing to rival Liverpool for Guehi’s capture in the winter transfer window.

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has made Guehi a ‘priority signing’ to give his defence added steel.

Inigo Martinez has already left and Andreas Christensen could soon follow, with Guehi having been identified as an elite replacement at centre-half.

Barca are trying to improve the first-team squad without further financial complications and see Guehi as an ideal solution. The report claims Palace could sell him for just €20m (£17m) in January.

Although, Barca will have to put on a huge charm offensive to stop the 25-year-old from joining Liverpool.

Liverpool are in pole position to sign Guehi as personal terms are already in place.

Sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that Liverpool will bring Guehi’s transfer forward to January if Barca and Real Madrid emerge as real threats.

It was claimed recently that Guehi would ‘prefer’ to join Madrid over Barca. Liverpool, though, see the Madrid links as simply ‘noise’.

Chelsea have been linked with a move to re-sign Guehi, but Blues sources have downplayed these reports to TEAMtalk.

If Guehi is to join another Premier League club, then it is highly likely to be Liverpool.

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Arne Slot confirms Liverpool interest in Marc Guehi

When asked about the player at Friday’s press conference, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “I think it would be ridiculous if I’m going to deny we were close to signing him.

“That is so out in the open that that would be ridiculous.

“These things happen in football, it happened to our players maybe in the past as well that they thought they were so close to signing somewhere else and then in the last moment, things change. This can happen.

“For me, we would like to sign him of course, because we were in for him. Like I have said many times, if we feel we can strengthen the team with a chance in the market, we never hesitated to do so and that’s what we tried to do.

“But we played one or two days before, we played Arsenal where Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate] played an outstanding game and Joe [Gomez] came in 20 minutes before the end and did outstanding as well.

“With us signing Giovanni Leoni, who had his first international call-up, and Ryan [Gravenberch] and Wata [Endo] that can play there so it is not like all of a sudden we don’t have options in that position anymore.

“It’s a pity but not only for us, but also for the player I think. But he’s in a good place, playing at Palace where he won the Community Shield and the FA Cup with a very good manager as well.

“Let’s see what the future brings for him and for us. If I am thinking anything [about the January transfer window], you know that what I think, I don’t tell you.”

Barca starlet wanted; Liverpool record could fall AGAIN

Manchester United have reportedly identified a Barca starlet as the next Bruno Fernandes.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have been tipped to obliterate their transfer record yet again, this time for a Bayern Munich ace.

Plus, Slot has admitted a Liverpool forward ‘wasn’t happy’ with a ruthless recent decision.

QUIZ: Who joined Barca first?