Man City deal worth over £105 MILLION blows Liverpool out of the water

Liverpool thought they had their man.

On transfer deadline day sporting director Richard Hughes agreed to pay £35m for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi. The 25-year-old was reported to have undergone at least part of his Anfield medical with personal terms not thought to have been a problem.

With only one year left on his contract with the FA Cup holders Guehi had backed his employers into a corner. Either sell now or lose him for nothing in 2026.

But owing to a failure to secure Igor Julio on loan from Brighton Palace ended up pulling out of the Guehi deal at the 11th hour.

And while Liverpool remained internally confident that they would recruit Guehi on a free transfer it was always going to be a risk once the Reds lost their clear run at the England man.

Liverpool's fatal miscalculation

Plenty of top European clubs were ready to get involved in the bidding war for Guehi - who was set to become one of the richest free agent deals in history.

But Manchester City have struck first - agreeing to pay Palace an initial £20m this January in order to solve their centre-back selection crisis.

Liverpool last week were reported to be adamant that no fee should be paid to Palace for Guehi - otherwise there would be little value in the deal this January.

They were content to wait for the chance to sign him on a free but that has proven to be a fatal miscalculation.

Man City will pay AT LEAST £105m for Guehi deal

Now the terms of the deal can be revealed - with Paul Joyce in the Times detailing how much it will cost City to get the Guehi deal over the line.

“City’s reputed wage offer of £300,000 a week, in addition to paying an initial £20million fee, was a deal Liverpool were unwilling to match financially,” he writes.

“They had no intention of bidding this month.”

The duration of the contract is reported to be five-and-a-half years - meaning City will end up paying around £86 MILLION in wages alone to Guehi until the end of his contract. Added to the £20m transfer fee and that brings the subtotal for this deal to a touch over £105m.

Liverpool will still require centre-backs

Of course the defender was going to be entitled to a bumper signing-on fee by leaving on a Bosman next summer. And reports last week suggested that City were prepared to meet those requirements too.

Let’s say that fee equates to another £10m - it means that City will be paying over £115m in transfer fees, wages and signing-on fees for Guehi.

It’s little wonder that Liverpool had “no intention” of bidding for Guehi this January according to Joyce.

Now the Anfield club need to identify new centre-backs to come to the club and eventually take over from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.

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