Guehi emerged as Newcastle ’s number one target during the summer but the decision was taken to walkaway from a deal after Palace chairman Steve Parish demanded in excess of £70million.
There’s been a lot of noise since the beginning of August but Guehi, who is Palace’s captain, has been selected as normal – starting each of the Eagles’ four matches so far.From the outside looking in, the 24-year-old has endured an up and down start to the campaign, and Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to newly-promoted Leciester city
was definitely one to forget for the centre-back.
The former youngster was mocked on social media after 37-year-old outpaced him to open the scoring. There were also question marks over his involvement in the Foxes’ second goal when he failed to deal with James Justin’s cross, which resulted in Stephy Mavididi tapping home.
Ultimately, Guehi and Palace’s blushes were spared when Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a brace to rescue a point. That said, Guehi felt it was necessary to address his poor performance. “Personally, not good enough from myself yesterday,” he wrote on X. “But proud of the team spirit to fight back and get a point.”
While Palace fans were very forgiving in the replies, Newcastle supporters weren’t as kind. “ Already Marc Guehi is looking like the best piece of business we never did,” said one X user, while another wrote: “ Very early days I know but I think we may have dodged a bullet with Marc Guehi.”
The Guehi and Newcastle saga isn’t over yet. It’s understood Howe’s side are open to revisiting a deal in January, although that is dependent on Palace lowering their valuation to reflect the 18 months left on his contract.
“It’s about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile [of player] for sure,” sporting director Paul Mitchell said recently. “It shouldn’t be misconceived of a lack of ambition, I just think that’s the model you have to work in the modern game now.
“There’s a lot of common factors that we need to adjust that we need to make sure we keep being sustainably successful. It should not be lobbied against ambition because if we just spend, spend, spend, spend once again, we become accountable to that by penalties, fines and points deductions and that isn’t good leadership, that isn’t being a good custodian of the club, that isn’t taking your role responsibly, you’re being negligent. That is only for one thing, it’s for your ego. We’re not going to do that.”