Chelsea let one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League leave – but will they sign him back this summer, or will Spurs get there first?
It’s four years since Chelsea made a significant mistake in the transfer market. It’s wasn’t the first, of course, and it most certainly wasn’t the last – but in the context of this summer, it could be one of their most expensive.
In 2021, Marc Guéhi was sold to Crystal Palace for a reported £18m, give or take a few incentives and bonus payments. Now, he’s somewhere near the top of their shopping list as they look to continue their progress under Enzo Maresca – but he’s likely to cost closer to £70m, and to compound the error of letting him leave Stamford Bridge in the first place, Tottenham Hotspur want him too. So will Chelsea get their man?
Chelsea “hurt” Marc Guéhi – but he could still come back
Speaking to Sky Sports in 2022, a year after he had left Chelsea, Guéhi made it clear that his departure from the club had not been something he’d personally pushed for.
“It hurt a lot just because I was there for such a long time”, he said. “It’s such a different feeling leaving there and not going back to where you’ve been for so long. But in order to grow, sometimes you have to take the hard choice and take the hard path sometimes.”
The hard path worked out pretty well. Guéhi had made his England debut a few months earlier, and a few years later has established himself as a Three Lions regular and one of the Premier League’s most in-demand defenders, as aptly demonstrated by Newcastle United’s protracted pursuit of him last summer.
That transfer saga not only demonstrated Guéhi’s value to clubs further up the Premier League’s financial ladder than Crystal Palace, but also gives us a starting price for his services – around £70m. If Chelsea do bring him back, they will be registering a significant loss against an already eyebrow-raising balance sheet.
Still, Chelsea need a new centre-back – a parade of defenders who failed to live up to expectations from Kalidou Koulibaly to Axel Disasi has neatly demonstrates that much – and Guéhi is one of the best likely to be on the market. Re-signing him might be galling for their accountants, but widespread reports make it clear that they want their man. At least they could be confident that they would finally have a high-end partner for Levi Colwill.
Spurs offer competition in battle for big signing
Buying Guéhi back might be a bit embarrassing from a financial perspective and from the point of view of the club’s reputation for identifying and nurturing talent – this is the club that quickly gave up on Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne, after all – but that won’t matter if he signs and plays to his best. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only club that want him.
It sounds like Newcastle won’t make a second attempt to sign the 24-year-old, although there’s always a chance that changes, but Tottenham Hotspur certainly seem keen, based on a slew of transfer stories. They may have a historic reputation for steering clear of big-money signings, but after splashing £65m on Dominic Solanke (another Chelsea cast-off, of course) there are indications that they’ll spend big on the right player.
Their need could for a centre-back could be just as dire, especially if reports claiming that Atlético Madrid want to sign Cristian Romero are true. Spurs’ defence needs Guéhi’s poise, and Postecoglou’s aggressive playing style will appreciate his ability to play high up the pitch and in tight spaces without making mistakes.
Spurs’ struggles this season may make them a less attractive proposition come the summer, but Chelsea aren’t guaranteed a berth in the top four (or five, as may be the case with the Premier League likely to get an extra Champions League spot) and they may not have a much stronger sales pitch.
Perhaps Guéhi would be especially keen to return to his former club and prove himself anyway. Perhaps the progress made under Maresca makes a return to Stamford Bridge attractive enough in its own right, regardless of their final league position. But there is a world in which Chelsea’s initial mistake is compounded once more.
How much salt does a wound need? It’s one thing to burn £50m or more buying a player who was on your books just a few years ago, perhaps another to watch them promptly head to a cross-city rival. Selling Guéhi to Palace may yet prove to be an unforced error on a par with Salah and De Bruyne yet.
