Manchester City close in on £20m deal to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace | Transfer window

Manchester Metropolis are closing in on ­signing Marc Guéhi from ­Crystal Palace. The centre-back’s ­contract expires on the finish of the season and Palace have accepted a proposal of £20m.

Palace’s supervisor, Oliver Glasner, mentioned on Friday that the deal was in its last levels, on a day when he additionally revealed he can be leaving the membership in the summertime. Guéhi, he mentioned, wouldn’t be concerned in Palace’s recreation at Sunderland on Saturday. “I can’t ­verify a membership, as a result of it’s nonetheless not executed, however it’s within the last levels,” Glasner mentioned. “The result’s that Marc doesn’t play tomorrow for us.”

The England worldwide nearly joined Liverpool in the summertime earlier than Palace pulled out of the deal. Private phrases will not be considered a problem for Guéhi, who has mentioned he wouldn’t lengthen his Palace deal.

Metropolis have accidents in central defence. Rúben Dias is out with a hamstring damage, Josko Gvardiol has a tibial fracture and John Stones, who’s unlikely to have his contract renewed in the summertime, is out with a thigh downside. Pep Guardiola was compelled to recall the 20-year-old Max Alleyne from a mortgage at Watford to assist alleviate the scarcity.

Guéhi’s former membership Chelsea can be due 20% of any charge, as a part of the package deal that took him to Palace in 2021. Barcelona have held talks over signing Guéhi and Bayern Munich expressed curiosity in getting him on a free however they’ve been usurped by Metropolis.

Guéhi is in line to be Metropolis’s second signing of the window after Antoine Semenyo joined from Bournemouth for an preliminary £62.5m.

Metropolis have drawn their previous three Premier League matches and Erling Haaland has not scored from open play since 20 December to go away them six factors behind Arsenal, the ­leaders, going into Saturday’s­ Manchester derby. Guardiola is sad with the ­officiating round Haaland, whom he feels wants extra safety.

“God bless that we’ve got Erling in our staff proper now and all the ­season – we’re lucky to have him and with out him we might not be within the place we’re in now,” ­Guardiola mentioned. “He brings quite a bit and is getting higher at many, many issues. There are a number of video games and it’s an ­unimaginable interval for video games. Each three days there’s a match, restoration is much less with journey, robust circumstances, central defenders robust. It’s tough. However he’ll be again.”

He then mentioned sarcastically: “He’s the one striker on the earth that makes extra fouls than defenders do on him. That’s his greatest ­attribute. That’s actually good. He’s the one striker in my life that he makes extra fouls to defenders than defenders to him. I’ve by no means seen this. Firstly of the season the referee mentioned it will be the alternative. However it’s the reverse of that.”