Marc Guehi revealed that his £35million summer move to Liverpool was only pulled midway through a medical after making a stellar debut for rivals Manchester City.
City made a huge play to land Guehi for £20m last week, six months before his contract expired at Crystal Palace, and identified him as the cornerstone of their defence for the next five years.
But Liverpool had effectively done a deal to land the England international on deadline day but Palace couldn’t find a replacement – Guehi finding out as he lay in an MRI scanner.
‘It was very close,’ he said. ‘Very close. The medical was pretty much done and then it got pulled at the last minute.
‘My mindset is what will be, will be. It would be doing Palace a disservice if I was acting a certain way because the club’s given me everything.
‘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 thing.
Manchester City’s new £20million signing Marc Guehi made a stellar debut against Wolves
Guehi celebrates with fellow January arrival Antoine Semenyo, who scored City’s second goal
‘I’m really confident that this is the place for me to improve, to grow as a player. So I’m glad I could get over the line.’
Guehi marshalled the City back four as they beat Wolves 2-0 on Saturday but admitted that it wasn’t a ‘perfect start’, adding: ‘I need to get up to speed with a lot of things.’
Both John Stones and Phil Foden made pitches to Guehi as City negotiated to finalise a move this month, with Bayern Munich and Liverpool among those strong suitors were he to become available in the summer.
Pep Guardiola has talked up the 25-year-old’s obvious ability and the step up has been a long time coming for somebody renowned as one of the best centre halves in the Premier League. Newcastle United bid £65m for him in weeks after the European Championship in 2024.
‘It’s not just been a (mad) couple of weeks, I’d say a couple of years,’ Guehi said. ‘It feels like it’s been going on forever.
‘I’m just glad that I got to move over the line. Obviously, it’s not easy leaving a club that I’ve been at for so long. They’ve done so much for me and I’m eternally grateful to them. But I’m just really glad I can be here. I’m glad that I’ve joined this fantastic football club.
‘We’ve been talking for quite a while and obviously talked with different clubs. Like I said, I felt from conversations, through talking with some of the players here, that this was the place for me to improve, to get better and just to help as much as possible.’
