by Chris Harris
Liverpool’s current season feels like the kind where every small decision comes back to haunt you. They’re conceding too many goals, dropping too many points, Salah off form, and looking nothing like the stable, ruthless outfit they were only last season. For a team that once prided itself on defensive solidity and consistency, the slide has been sharp and uncomfortable.
It leaves supporters wondering: How much of this could have been avoided with just one sensible signing?
A Defence That Just Isn’t What It Was
Liverpool’s biggest frustration this year isn’t hard to identify. They are leaking goals in a way that would have been unimaginable in the era of their title challenges and Champions League finals. Mistakes, lack of cohesion, disorganisation, it’s all part of the picture. Players hands up, aghast, another mistake, another goal, mid table mediocrity.
Naturally, this points toward a very specific “what if”:
What if Liverpool had signed Marc Guéhi?
The Signing That Dragged On Far Too Long
The pursuit of Guéhi wasn’t a quick or quiet one. It simmered throughout the summer, talked about, asked about, whispered about, but never sealed. And that’s the interesting part, this wasn’t a case of Liverpool arriving late, taking a chance, and failing. This was a drawn out saga where Liverpool appeared to test Crystal Palace’s patience rather than negotiate decisively.
The Palace had a clear valuation. Liverpool didn’t meet it. Not early, not decisively, and certainly not in the way a club that spent around £450 million elsewhere might have been expected to. Why, when Liverpool were running around trying to throw money around like confetti to secure a £100 million flop, were they spivvishly trying to cash in on Guehi’s contract ticking down. At the £40 million, £75 million had been offered a year previously, and he is better and worth more now, early 20s, Palace captain, established England and Premiership pedigree he was and is a bargain. That decision, to spend £450 million and penny pinch over Guehi has, in my opinion, been catastrophic.
That hesitation, reportedly over a difference of around £10 million, ultimately destroyed the deal. Not because Guéhi didn’t want the move. Not because Palace refused from day one. But because Liverpool allowed the whole process to drift until the very end of the window, at which point Palace’s manager, Oliver Glasner, could quite reasonably say:
“You haven’t given us time to find a replacement.”
And he was right. If Liverpool had simply offered what Palace wanted at the start of the summer, when the interest was first declared, Palace would have had weeks to bring in a new centre-back. The deal almost certainly would have gone through smoothly. The Palace cannot buy a replacement on a what if? basis, they are cash strapped.
Instead, Liverpool danced around the figure, pushed the negotiation into late August, and gave Palace every reason to pull the plug.
A £450 Million Rebuild That Created Its Own Problems
The irony is painful. Liverpool were willing to spend massive money across the squad, huge fees on multiple players, many unproven at Premier League level. It was a summer of change, turnover, risk, and experimentation. Exactly the opposite of what most successful clubs do.
Traditionally, top clubs add one or two high quality players each season. Like er….Klopp. That’s how you maintain balance, spirit, and identity. But Liverpool attempted something closer to a wholesale rebuild, and the result has been a team that looks disjointed, unfamiliar, and vulnerable.
Which raises the obvious question:
If you’re spending £450 million on potential, why quibble over £10 million for a proven Premier League defender?
Guéhi has been one of the most consistent centre backs in the league, at the heart of one of its most well organised defences. He was exactly the profile Liverpool needed: calm, strong in duels, positionally disciplined, and already adapted to English football.
And yet the club hesitated.
Would Guéhi Even Want to Leave Palace Now?
Circumstances have changed. Back in June or July, the move would have made sense for him. Liverpool were still seen as a huge European force; Palace would likely have sanctioned the transfer with enough notice.
But now? With Liverpool struggling, conceding too many goals, and the project looking muddled?
You could argue that Palace, stable, improving, defensively strong, might actually be the more attractive option at this moment in time. It’s remarkable how quickly those dynamics can flip.
The Spanish giants have now signified interest, them or a club in a mess.
If Palace avoid injuries to their small squad, they may pip Liverpool to a Champions League place!
The Crux: A Season Defined by a £10 Million Misjudgement
Strip away the noise, and this is the heart of the story:
Liverpool spent a fortune on a squad overhaul but refused to decisively meet Crystal Palace’s valuation for their best defender.
They let negotiations drag across the entire summer.
They pushed it to the last minute.
And by doing so, they gave Palace the perfect justification to walk away.
Had Liverpool acted early, confidently, and seriously, Guéhi would almost certainly be playing in red this season, and Liverpool’s defensive record might look very different.
Even my own in-laws, all committed Liverpool fans , admit the whole thing feels like a self-inflicted wound.
Football can turn on tiny margins, but this wasn’t tiny. This was a clear decision not to invest in quality when it mattered most. And right now, Liverpool are living with the consequences.
“A Cautionary Tale of Karma: Be Careful What You Wish For”
This is why we all love football, Perhaps the most poetic twist of all came before the season had even reached a third of the way through, Crystal Palace, the club Liverpool had spent months haggling with, delaying, and ultimately failing to agree terms with, went on to beat Liverpool three times in quick succession. You could call it karma, or simply the reward for proper stewardship and clear decision making. While Liverpool were wrestling with the consequences of an overhauled, unsettled squad, Palace quietly demonstrated what focused management and a sensible transfer policy can deliver. In the end, it wasn’t just that Liverpool missed out on Marc Guéhi, it was that the very club they underestimated ended up schooling them on the pitch. A reminder, if ever one was needed, that in football, as in life, you should be careful what you wish for.
Of course, Guéhi may yet make the move to Liverpool in the January transfer window, although it’s hard to see anything happening before the end of the season. Even if he eventually does arrive, the momentum built during Slot’s first brilliant season has already been badly disrupted. Securing Guéhi would still be a superb signing, he has the qualities to become the defensive bedrock for Liverpool rebuild upon. But the point remains: had Liverpool approached the summer 2025 transfer window with a more canny, measured strategy, they might have evolved as a club rather than dissolved and unravelled, leaving themselves with the difficult task of going back to square one.
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