Chelsea are now over halfway through the January transfer window and the rumour mill speculation continues at pace, but having recently recalled defender Trevoh Chalobah, surely our interest in Marc Guehi is over for now.
Having originally come through our youth ranks, 24 year old Marc Guehi impressed in his 18 month loan spell with Swansea City but we cashed in on him to the tune of £18 million in the summer of 2021, and he has gone from strength to strength and now boasts 22 England international caps to his name.
In the years since we have reportedly kept a weather eye on him, and it was claimed that the centre half was our No 1 top defensive target for this window, and it is even suggested that talks have taken place between both clubs on what it would take to get a deal over the line.
Fellow Academy graduate, 25 year old Trevoh Chalobah, has also struggled to establish himself at Stamford Bridge and after a number of good loans moves away, he made the switch to Selhurst Park last summer, and has featured 14 times for them so far, but manager Enzo Maresca optioned the recall clause to help provide cover for the injured Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile.
Given the late notice nature of the recall by Chelsea, Palace are not best pleased and their manager Oliver Glasner has already gone on record as saying Chalobah wanted to remain with them for the rest of the season, but the decision was taken out of both of their hands, and they are now a trusted centre half down.
Given it was believed that our sell on clause on Guehi’s future was simply the right to match an incoming offer should we wish to, as opposed to a strict release fee that would see him return, this obviously makes doing another deal with Palace (particularly this window) far more problematic.
Maresca rightly knows that Chalobah will readjust to Chelsea far more quickly than any new signing could, but having previously been one of the ‘bomb squad’ and with it widely believed that we will continue to look to move him on come the summer, well, that raises questions of its own irrespective of potential game time guarantees offered by sporting director Paul Winstanley ahead of the recall taking place.
It looks increasingly likely at this moment that Guehi will definitely be off our list of targets as we head towards February, and we will simply have to see whether or not Palace look for an extra premium over the summer in recompense for the unexpected disruption.
Many in the True Blue fanbase will simply wonder why we did not look at a cash plus player swap here given Chalobah was doing well with them.