Crystal Palace have sold their captain Marc Guehi to Manchester City, despite manager Oliver Glasner’s public protestations against the decision to weaken his squad mid-season
Steve Parish has opened up on Marc Guehi’s exit(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has hinted at friction behind the scenes over the decision to sell Marc Guehi to Manchester City. Guehi completed his £30million transfer to City on Monday after Palace decided to cash in on their captain mid-season, rather than lose him for nothing in the summer.
Guehi was on the verge of joining Liverpool in a £35m deal on deadline day in the summer, only for Parish to pull the plug at the last minute. The Palace chief had clashed with manager Oliver Glasner and decided that the sale couldn’t go ahead because they didn’t have a replacement.
However, the call has been taken to sell the England international in the January transfer window. Guehi’s contract was due to expire in June, meaning the 25-year-old defender would have left on a free transfer had Palace not agreed to do business with City this month.
Glasner has openly questioned the decision to sell Guehi, saying on the weekend he and the players were being “abandoned completely” by the hierarchy. His provocative comments forced Parish to consider dismissing the manager, who stated last week that he will leave at the end of the season when his contract expires.
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Parish ultimately decided not to sack Glasner, who has been linked with Manchester United following the departure of Ruben Amorim. But the Palace chief’s words after Guehi left the south London club hinted at the disagreement.
“There is never an easy time to bid farewell to a player of Marc’s calibre and character, but we respect his desire to play football at the highest level,” Parish said in a club statement before going on to hail his character and contributions to Palace.
He concluded: “He will stay in all our hearts, and – although it is sad to bid him farewell – he deserves to depart with our very best wishes for the future. Good luck, Marc – and thank you.”
Oliver Glasner criticised the decision to sell Marc Guehi(Image: )
HAVE YOUR SAY! Have Crystal Palace made the right decision in selling Marc Guehi mid-season? Comment below.
The move has been confirmed just days after Glasner openly criticised the decision following a 2-1 defeat by Sunderland in the Premier League. “I feel we are being abandoned completely,” he said on Saturday. “Because I can’t play many players. They did everything they could and this has been going on for weeks and months now. And we have 12, 13 players from the squad available and we feel no support.
“The worst thing is selling our captain one day before playing a Premier League game. We are preparing, it’s the first week we are training since September, and then we are selling our captain one day before a game. So I have no understanding of this.
“I have always kept my mouth [closed], but I can’t because I have to defend these players, because it was the 35th game today. Yes we get under pressure here and we are unlucky. But again, you can’t react, we can’t help them, it makes it really tough tonight.”
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