Liverpool in talks over Marc Guehi deal as transfer could be concluded fast: report

Liverpool will reportedly look to add to their defensive depth this summer by closing a deal to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.

Guehi is the current captain of Crystal Palace and lifted the Community Shield against Liverpool in the curtain-raiser for top flight football this weekend.

With a year left on his deal, it looks inevitable Guehi will leave, whether that is for a fee this summer, or for free next year is yet to be decided, but Liverpool are going to make a push to sign him before the transfer market closes in just over three weeks.

Liverpool to push to complete Marc Guehi transfer, personal terms agreed

As it stands, the Reds have three senior centre-backs on their books. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, who are both ranked amongst FourFourTwo's best centre-backs in the world, started the game at Wembley against Crystal Palace, with Joe Gomez missing the game through injury.

Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo, Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas and even Trey Nyoni all deputised there in pre-season, but Arne Slot and the Anfield hierarchy are determined to add a specialist there before the window shuts.

An update from The Daily Mail suggests they will push hard to complete a deal for Guehi, with the Premier League champions willing to pay in the region of £40 million to secure his services. The report states Crystal Palace are holding out for £45 million, so the teams are not too far apart in their valuation of the defender.

TEAMtalk reinforced their belief that personal terms have been agreed, as long ago as the start of July, so should a fee be agreed, a move may be concluded relatively quickly.

It had been suggested that Chelsea, who Crystal Palace purchased Guehi from, were considering a move for the 25-year-old following Levi Colwill's ACL injury, but it is believed they are prioritising other positions this summer.

Guehi is not the only central defender on the Reds radar, with Giovanni Leoni from Parma drawing serious interest from those at Anfield.

In FourFourTwo's view, this transfer should be Liverpool's priority. Whilst Van Dijk's injury record is relatively sound, the same cannot be said for Gomez and Konate, and they are essentially one injury away from a crisis.

Guehi would provide immediate competition to Konate, who is in a similar situation and could even become Van Dijk's primary centre-back partner with a string of good performances.

Transfermarkt currently value Guehi at €45m.