Marc Guehi captained Crystal Palace in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat against Brentford amid strong links to Newcastle.
The Magpies have just seen a £65m bid rejected for the England international, as it was not a guaranteed £65m sum – which is what Steve Parish is looking for.
A story from the Daily Mail states that Newcastle offered a guaranteed £60m with the remaining £5m made up of instalments.
Now – however – Marc Guehi could be close to an exit as Crystal Palace fans noticed the defender doing something interested after Sunday’s defeat…
What Marc Guehi did after Brentford 2-1 Crystal Palace
Those inside the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday will have noticed the Crystal Palace No.6 spending a particularly long amount of time applauding supporters in front of the away end.
Guehi was also – interestingly – stood at the front of the group alone while clapping the fans.
Of course, this could just be the actions of a captain taking responsibility after a frustrating defeat, although it could also be a goodbye from the 23-year-old amid rumours now coming from Germany.
Florian Plettenburg of Sky Germany has just posted a cryptic tweet which suggests Crystal Palace have agreed a deal to sign Maxence Lacroix from VfL Wolfsburg.
The Frenchman only has 11 months remaining on his contract and has previously worked with Oliver Glasner at VfL Wolfsburg, so this deal seems very straightforward for Dougie Freedman to complete.
Lacroix has also agreed personal terms on a contract with Crystal Palace – according to Plettenburg – so we could be about to see the VfL Wolfsburg No.4 replace Guehi at Selhurst Park.
Newcastle will be even more desperate now
If Newcastle were not already desperate to sign Guehi – arguably England’s best player at UEFA Euro 2024 – Eddie Howe will be even more keen to get a deal wrapped up following Fabian Schar’s straight red card against Southampton.
The Switzerland international was dismissed following a headbutt on Ben Brereton Diaz in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Southampton on Saturday, so the Magpies now have a gap in the defence for the next three games.
Could that be enough to force Newcastle into coughing up a few more million pounds and finally meeting our asking price for Guehi? Only time will tell…
