Ruben Amorim considers shock bid for £35m Liverpool target to replace Man Utd star

Manchester United are considering entering the race to sign Marc Guehi ahead of his imminent exit from Crystal Palace.

Eagles boss Oliver Glasner confirmed last month that Guehi, 25, would not be signing a new contract with the club.

Palace hoped to convince Guehi to sign a contract extension but the England star ‘wanted something different’, according to Glasner.

His transfer decision means Crystal Palace must now decided whether to sell Guehi in January or allow him to leave on a free transfer next summer.

Guehi is one of Glasner’s most important players at Selhurst Park, making close to 200 appearances for the Eagles and captaining the side in recent years.

It was under Guehi’s captaincy that Crystal Palace won the FA Cup last season – the first major trophy in the club’s history – and qualified for Europe.

As well as starring for Palace, Guehi has also become a key player for England and is expected to start for Thomas Tuchel at next summer’s World Cup.

Premier League champions Liverpool were on the verge of signing Guehi last summer and agreed a £35m deal with Crystal Palace.

Guehi had even completed a medical with the Reds only for Palace to pull out of the deal on transfer deadline day after failing to sign a replacement.

Given Palace could cash in on Guehi in January, Liverpool were expected to face competition from Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United are also considering entering the race to sign Guehi and intend to watch his situation this winter ‘with interest’.

Old Trafford boss Ruben Amorim is open to signing a new centre-back as another England international, Harry Maguire, is expected to leave the club next summer.

Maguire has been a reliable presence for the Red Devils over the past 12 months but talks over a new deal have made ‘limited progress’.

The former Manchester United captain will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with clubs abroad in December and has attracted interest from a number of European clubs.

Matthijs de Ligt and Luke Shaw are enjoying impressive runs in the United team but Lisandro Martinez and Ayden Heaven have struggled with injury issues.

Manchester United are not expecting ‘significant activity’ in January but will make moves if the right deals present themselves.

Whether Guehi would be open to moving to Old Trafford remains to be seen, especially as United cannot currently offer targets European football.

Faltering Premier League champions Liverpool remain keen to sign Guehi as Ibrahima Konate has started the season poorly and looks set to leave Anfield at the end of his contract.

But former Premier League midfielder Don Hutchinson believes Liverpool have ‘blown their chance’ to sign Guehi and expects the Palace centre-back to end up at another club.

‘They’ve blown their chances of landing him. One million percent,’ the ex-Scotland star told Sportscasting.

‘I mean, I’d love to be a fly on the wall at Liverpool when they didn’t get the Guehi deal done. They should have just paid the money.

‘When I compare Liverpool to Arsenal, I see two proper men and two proper guys that won’t be bullied in Calafiori and Timber, alongside Saliba and Gabriel. So you’ve got four centre backs across there.

‘If Mark Guehi was at Liverpool now he’d be playing at left-back and you’d be Konate, Van Dijk, Bradley and Guehi, and you’d be thinking crikey, that’s pretty versatile.

‘Liverpool should have just paid Palace whatever they wanted. I think it was a poor move. They were so focused on signing Isak. I understand that, because you can’t turn it down, but Guehi had to be the other priority.

‘This January has to be the marker with Guehi if they want to finish in the top four.

‘They need to try and pull out all the stops to land him in January because by the summer time, I think he’ll have plenty of options to choose from, and they could be more attractive to him and his family.’

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