It was not the first time in the last year that a Manchester City match resulted in Marc Guehi celebrating. How could it be, when a May date with his new employers ended with him lifting the FA Cup? Eight months after Eberechi Eze’s Wembley winner, Guehi was rather keener on a City clean sheet. After he and Nico O’Reilly flew in to block Yerson Mosquera’s injury-time shot they, and Gianluigi Donnarumma, were bound together in a hug. “We need that [spirit],” he said.
Guehi had only been a City player for five days but it was early evidence of commitment to the cause. And yet that, perhaps, was the guarantee, even for a man whose loyalties could have been transferred to one of City’s major rivals. It has been an eventful couple of weeks for a £20m signing, from his final Crystal Palace appearance coming in arguably the greatest ever FA Cup shock, of defeat to Macclesfield, to being withdrawn from their squad in a manner that threatened to end Oliver Glasner’s reign to joining City to debuting against Wolves.
“Not just a couple of weeks, I’d say a couple of years,” said Guehi. “It feels like it’s been going on forever.” A saga came to a sudden end. A disappointing one for Glasner and the Palace fanbase; so, too, for Guehi’s other suitors, who included Liverpool, and perhaps Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
He was a wanted man, in part because of reasons Pep Guardiola articulated. “The transfer is a really good prize and he is the perfect age, 25,” he said. “With the ball he had incredible composure. An incredible signing for Manchester City for many years. He’s a guy you can rely on.”
So Palace can testify, though those qualities prompted others to admire Guehi as his contract at Selhurst Park was running down. But City proved persuasive. “We’ve been talking for quite a while and I obviously talked with different clubs,” Guehi said. “I felt from conversations, through talking with some of the players here, that this was the place for me to improve.” His England teammates Phil Foden and John Stones, along with Guardiola and director of football Hugo Viana, all sold City’s case.
And yet it is less than five months since he was on the brink of joining Liverpool for £35m. “Very close,” said Guehi. “The medical was pretty much done and then it got pulled at the last minute.” Indeed, he had recorded a video to bid farewell to Palace fans before the club vetoed his sale on deadline day. But the composure Guardiola references was apparent in his attitude. “But my mindset is what will be, will be,” Guehi explained. “God’s got a plan for me. Just move on to the next one.”
The next one, it transpired, was City. Yet in the summer, Guehi’s professionalism left him at Selhurst Park. There was a contrast with Alexander Isak, who forced through his own move to Liverpool by going on strike. That was not the Guehi way, but he leaves Palace without burning his bridges. A South Londoner preserved his status as a local hero.
“I can’t speak on anyone’s behalf and anyone else’s decision,” said Guehi. “That’s their life. I know, for me, getting bought by Palace was such an honour, a blessing. For me, it would be doing Palace a disservice if I was acting a certain way because the club’s given me everything. It’s not me giving the club everything, they’ve given me everything. They give me the opportunity to play. They supported us when things go well and when things go bad. So, the least I can do is show up to work every single day, shut my mouth and keep my head down. I think that’s the most important.”
Guehi showed up for work for a further 27 matches for Palace. But each changed the other: when they bought him from Chelsea in 2021, he had never played in the Premier League. Three years later, he started the final of Euro 2024. They were a club without a major trophy in 120 years. Guehi could raise the FA Cup and the Community Shield in the same summer.
“I don’t really think about being the most successful captain [in Palace’s history],” he said. “I just think of myself as someone who came to the club, who gave everything for the club and was a part of the amazing four-and-a-half years that we were there. So I was just a piece in the puzzle.”
The way he slotted in on his City bow suggested he may prove a pivotal piece in Guardiola’s new jigsaw. At the least, he is not in the opposition ranks to deny them further trophies. He may be too diplomatic to raise the subject of Palace’s greatest day. But have his new colleagues raised the subject of the FA Cup final yet? “No one’s said a word,” he smiled.
