Chelsea opted against re-signing their former defender Marc Guehi this month with a purpose to deal with other defensive targets.
Guehi sealed a move to Manchester City this week, leaving Crystal Palace where he had just six months left on his contract for a fee of £20million.
The England international has been one of the sought-after defenders within the country for quite a few years with Newcastle United failing with 4 bids to sign him in 2024. Liverpool were on the cusp of signing him last summer just for the deal to fall through on the very last minute while Arsenal are also long-term admirers.
Guehi is one 17 former Chelsea kids playing within the Premier League with the club’s academy a wealthy source of talent.
He made just two senior appearances before excelling during his 18 months on loan at Swansea City, form that prompted Palace to pay £18million to sign him in the summertime of 2021.
Chelsea are available in the market for an additional centre-half this month having lost one other academy graduate in Levi Colwill to an anterior cruciate ligament injury in August.
The Blues nevertheless are in talks to sign Rennes defender Jeremy Jacquet having already agreed personal terms with the France Under-21 international. Manchester United and Arsenal are also occupied with Jacquet but Chelsea appear to have won the race for his signature.
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While Guehi was available for a modest £20m transfer fee, a return to Stamford Bridge was not seen as a possibility by Chelsea officials as a result of other considerable costs involved within the deal, The Athletic report.
Reports claim Guehi becomes one in every of City’s top earners with a salary of around £300,000-a-week.
The report also claimed that while Chelsea respect Guehi as a player, the club are searching for a defender with ‘different attributes’.
Former Chelsea midfielder Jody Morris was amongst those eager to see Guehi return to west London, joking the 25-year-old is ‘too old’ given the club’s transfer policy.
But Morris recently suggested interest from Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool meant Chelsea ‘were never within the conversation’.
‘Marc Guehi is a no brainer for the highest teams. I don’t think we get him. And he’s too old for Chelsea,’ he told Ace Odds.
‘He’s not too old for me. I might’ve bought Marc Guehi ages ago. In actual fact I wouldn’t have sold him. Perhaps when he first got here up, he was the proper age.
‘In fairness, I do know that Chelsea have been taking a look at him. Over the previous couple of years, I do know they’ve been taking a look at him. But if you happen to’re Marc Guehi, in the mean time, as much as I might love him at Chelsea – great kid, incredible family, what a boy to have across the place, incredible pro, great player – he ain’t going to Chelsea.
‘When you’ve gotten the teams which are taking a look at him, where Chelsea are in the mean time, and it kills me to say it, we aren’t within the conversation.’
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