The stunning £60m transfer hijack Liverpool could make to finally kick transfer window off in style

For the last few days, a series of reports originating with the Daily Telegraph have put Newcastle United on the brink of agreeing a deal worth over £60m for Crystal Palace and England’s Marc Guéhi, a big-money move which makes an immense amount of sense for an ambitious club who want to sign a centre-half with the potential to be a defensive lynchpin for the rest of the decade. But are Newcastle the only team in the market – and if so, should they be?

Liverpool’s name had been mentioned plenty earlier in the summer, and the tabloids raked them back up just last weekend in conjunction with a bid for the 24-year-old. It was a link that made plenty of logical sense – Joël Matip is gone, Virgil van Dijk is getting longer in the tooth and is now prone to occasional (if brief) spells of poor form and while Jarrel Quansah is developing nicely, he isn’t the finished article just yet. An extra body at centre-back seems like a minimum requirement at Anfield, and Guéhi would represent a lot more than just a warm body.

The missing data point in all this is just what Liverpool can afford to pay incoming transfers. There’s still a need to bolster the attacking line as well, and arguably a case for additions in midfield and at left-back. If the cash gets spent there, then perhaps Guéhi becomes a victim of his price tag.

In truth, Guéhi is the kind of player who defies data points anyway. Looking at his statistics just goes to show how tough analysing and assessing centre-backs can be. He doesn’t make huge numbers of tackles, he isn’t especially dominant in the air, he’s a decent but uninspiring passer… if you looked at him on an Excel spreadsheet rather than on the pitch, you’d wonder why anyone would spend £60m or more on him. Watch him in action, and it becomes a little more clear.

Guéhi has the same core skill that Van Dijk does – he knows exactly how to manoeuvre both himself and the opposing player in front of him to close down available passing and shooting angles, to force them wide or out of harm’s way, or to make sure he’s exactly where he needs to be to prevent them from getting the ball in the first place. He doesn’t need to put up a huge tackle success rate or win vast numbers of one-on-one duels to be one of the most effective centre-backs in the country. He knows how to make sure he isn’t put into tricky positions very often in the first place, and he does it while radiating calm assuredness.

All of which is why Newcastle want him, of course, and it helps that he marries that positional awareness with a respectable turn of pace, which should help him to function effectively in Eddie Howe’s aggressively high line – a similar line to that which we should expect to see from new Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. If Guéhi works for Newcastle, then he should work for the Reds for every last one of the same reasons.

And while cost may well be a barrier, Liverpool have the clout of a Champions League place and could easily turn the Palace man’s head – and if the bean counters can make the numbers line up, it would seem like a very sound move to try and match whatever the Magpies are offering. Guéhi has all the attributes Liverpool need for him to be both a worthy partner for Van Dijk and a long-term successor, all while Quansah develops as well.

It’s been a while since Liverpool have really splashed the cash across a summer, but with numerous key players getting on a little, it’s high time that they started to invest more heavily in their future. There is plenty of young talent in midfield but elsewhere there are positional groups which could easily be weakened soon if the next generation of players aren’t identified and signed. And if Liverpool prove the rumours suggesting that they are keen on Guéhi true, then that could be one of those positions locked down for years to come.