Man City could unwittingly help Liverpool sign Marc Guehi after transfer twist

Liverpool still have their eyes on signing Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace before the summer transfer window closes on Monday – and rivals Manchester City could help them

Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has emerged as a target for Crystal Palace in a transfer which could help facilitate Marc Guehi’s departure to Liverpool.

Palace are scouring the market for central defenders in case Liverpool meet their valuation for Guehi before the summer transfer window closes on Monday. The Palace captain has entered the final year of his contract and chairman Steve Parish has admitted they would have little option to sell now in order to avoid losing him for free next summer.

Oliver Glasner has made it clear they won’t sanction Guehi’s departure before the second leg of their Conference League play-off against Fredrikstad on Thursday. But the deal could still be completed over the weekend, if a compromise is found between Palace’s £45million valuation and Liverpool’s of around £35m.

Palace have been linked with Rennes’ Jeremy Jacquet and Toulouse’s Jaydee Canvot – and now Akanji is also on their radar. The Switzerland international has dropped behind Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake in the pecking order at City and will be allowed to leave.

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Akanji has received interest from Galatasaray, but is yet to decide on his future. Palace are reportedly lining up a £15m bid for the 30-year-old defender, who has two years remaining on his contract at City.

It remains to be seen whether the move suits City and Akanji, who could also become a target for Bayer Leverkusen if Piero Hincapie leaves for Arsenal. Akanji has not played for City this season and was left out of the squad which lost 2-0 to Tottenham on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola tried to play down the significance of his absence, pointing out that Ilkay Gundogan was also missing, but he has greenlighted Akanji’s exit. Guardiola is known to favour a smaller squad and would let the versatile Swiss player leave after three years at the club.

Palace manager Glasner pleaded publicly with the club’s hierarchy after their 1-0 win over Fredrikstad on Thursday to keep Guehi. “We cannot register anyone so we have to keep him,” he told Channel 5.

“We already rested Chris Richards and Ty Mitchell who had small problems. There is no other choice than keeping Marc for these games. He knows it, everybody knows it. If we want to compete in all of these competitions we need players, that is pretty clear.”

Parish struck a different tone, however, after agreeing the £67.5m sale of Eberechi Eze to Arsenal. “If Marc wants to sign a new contract then he can stay!” he said. “It’s a difficult situation. Everyone has to sell players to comply with the rules. That’s a situation that we will have to look at in the next 11 days.”

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