- 9 hours ago
Exclusive: Tottenham want £65m Crystal Palace star Guehi
Steve Kay
- Updated: 23 May 2023 09:09 CDT
- 4 min read
Tottenham Hotspur want to bolster their defence with Crystal Palace's England centre-back Marc Guehi, FootballTransfers can reveal.
Chelsea academy graduate Guehi has impressed since swapping the Blues for Palace in an £18 million deal in the summer of 2021, helping the Eagles finish 12th last season and playing his way into Gareth Southgate's England set-up.
The Ivory Coast-born 22-year-old has since been linked with a hosts of clubs, among them Manchester United, but Tottenham are understood to be closest to concluding a deal next summer.
READ: How Chelsea could stop Spurs signing England international
'Spurs are interested in Guehi'
"Spurs are interested in signing Marc Guehi in the summer," confirmed FootballTransfers collaborator Steve Kay. "Palace want £65m. Spurs apparently won't pay that - they're looking at paying around £45m.
"Tottenham have been looking for a young, versatile defender for quite a while now, and they have recently inquired about Aymeric Laporte and Pau Torres.
🚨 Wholesome content alert 🚨
Marc Guéhi reacts to getting an England seniors call-up for the first time 🏴#CPFC | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/3WGqWTAsHh— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) March 17, 2022
"They want someone who can play as a left- or right-sided centre-back in place of Eric Dier, who is a midfielder playing in a centre-back role, and Davinson Sanchez, who has been at the club since 2016 but simply hasn't hit the heights expected of him."
READ: How much will it cost Spurs to sack Antonio Conte?
Guehi has averaged four clearances per game over the last year in the Premier League, while also completing 87 per cent of his passes - three of them progressive - making him an asset on both sides of the ball.
Guehi is now valued at €44.6m (£39.4m) by FootballTransfers in-house algorithm, so Spurs starting position would appear to be reasonable, although Palace are under no financial pressure to sell.
The club recently parted ways with Patrick Vieira, though, and if his replacement as manager Roy Hodgson can't keep Palace up, they could be powerless to stop Guehi from forcing a move.
Across town, Antonio Conte's future at Tottenham is also uncertain, although as the Italian alluded to with Djed Spence's signing, he hasn't been central to the club's recruitment strategy since he arrived from Inter Milan.
