Football transfer rumours ranked: free agent Marc Guéhi too expensive for Real Madrid?

Not for the first time in recent months, Marc Guéhi’s future features prominently in today’s transfer gossip, as does Hansi Flick’s Barcelona side. Read on to find out more…

Transfer rumours ranked: Guéhi too costly for Real Madrid?

Rumour rating: 3

Given the number of centre-backs Real Madrid have been linked with over the past few months, one could have been forgiven for imagining plans were afoot at the Bernabéu to abandon the club’s attacking traditions in favour of parking the bus. 

Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat to Liverpool notwithstanding, things haven’t quite reached that stage yet. In fact, the list of potential defensive reinforcements linked with a move to the Spanish capital is so long that the rumour mill, creaking under the strain of it all, actually appears to have kicked into reverse. That means, contrary to numerous recent reports, Crystal Palace captain Marc Guéhi will not be joining Real next summer after all. 

To recap an oft-retold tale, Guéhi, who came within a hair’s breadth of joining Liverpool on transfer deadline day, will be out of contract next summer, leaving him free to negotiate a pre-contract with a foreign club from January. Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner, whose opposition to letting the 25-year-old leave without first signing a suitable replacement persuaded the club to pull the plug on an agreed move to Anfield, has acknowledged that there is no prospect of Guéhi remaining at Selhurst Park.

“They offered Marc a new contract, but he said, ‘No, I want to make something different,’ and that’s normal,” Glasner said last month, amid rumoured interest in Guéhi from .

So far, so familiar. 

What has reportedly changed is that Madrid, who agreed to pay Kylian Mbappé a €150m signing-on bonus in addition to a £13m annual salary when he joined from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, have been put off by the cost of a move for Guéhi. It turns out the England defender’s wages and bonus expectations are too rich for the tastes of the club that splashed tens of millions on recruiting the likes of David Alaba, Antonio Rüdiger and Trent Alexander-Arnold as free or near-free agents. Bless.

Should Madrid withdraw from the race for Guéhi’s signature, it will leave Liverpool in pole position to acquire his services – much as they have been from the outset, given his apparent enthusiasm for the move. Bayern Munich are expected to rival the Anfield club for the centre-back, particularly since Madrid reportedly hope to prise Dayot Upamecano from the Allianz Arena rather than chasing the Palace man.

Certain elements of this story don’t quite add up, however. Real are in robust health financially: earlier this year, the Deloitte Football Money League report revealed they became the first club to exceed €1bn (£844m) in revenue in a season during the 2023/24 campaign. It is therefore unclear why the costs involved in a move for Guéhi would be prohibitive. 

Real Madrid are past masters when it comes to acquiring elite players with itchy feet and expiring contracts; how likely is it that they would allow a few quid, no doubt amortised over the duration of a five-year contract, to come between them and one of the Premier League’s finest defenders?     

With that question in mind, the source of the rumour, which originated in the Madrid-based publication AS, seems significant. AS is widely regarded as a mouthpiece for Real, which might lead a cynic to speculate that this story amounts to nothing more than a tacit hint to Guéhi’s people that they should lower their demands or forget about their client moving to the Bernabéu. Perish the thought, we say.

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has no plans to quit the club

Rumour rating: 5  

At first glance, the very idea that Hansi Flick might want to leave his role as Barcelona manager looks fanciful in the extreme.

Having won a domestic treble last season in addition to guiding his side to the last four of the Champions League, where they lost an epic, two-legged showdown with Inter Milan by the odd goal in 13, why would the former Germany boss want to bid adios? With the better part of two years remaining on his contract, and every prospect of ending Barcelona’s decade-long wait for a sixth European Cup, why leave now?

In two words: Lamine Yamal. That, at least, was the gist of a fascinating piece by ABC columnist Salvador Sostres, who claimed this week that Flick has grown tired of the teenager’s antics, which he allegedly sees as symbolic of a creeping culture of egotism and self-interest among his players. 

What made Sostres’ analysis so compelling was the level of detail. Flick has supposedly become exasperated by a litany of alleged missteps on Yamal’s part, “From flying to Milan after losing the derby, instead of returning to Barcelona with his teammates, to details like the fact that he’s the only player who, on away trips, instead of getting up like everyone else to get his food from the buffet, waits for a club employee to serve it to him at the table.”

A lingering groin problem is allegedly seen as the result of a lack of commitment, while Yamal’s reported delight in driving golf carts intended for the use of staff members around the training ground has also gone down badly with Flick, claimed the article. A disciplinarian by nature, the 60-year-old has reputedly taken exception to a succession of incidents like “the birthday party, the whirlwind trips with girls, the nights out until the early hours, or the indulgences like the golf cart or being the only one served food at the table,” many of which Flick has been quizzed about in press conferences.

According to Sky Germany, however, the German “still has big plans for Barca” remains “very happy” in Catalonia. No further detail is offered about the nature or provenance of these claims, however, which does little to enhance their credibility. Merely saying something is untrue does not make it so.

It is not difficult to imagine that Flick, old enough to be Yamal’s father yet relatively powerless to exercise the strong guiding hand of a parent in an age when valuable young stars are routinely overindulged, might wish to consider his position. He has already won everything bar the Champions League at Barcelona and, unlike Yamal, already has a victory in that competition on his CV from his days in the Bayern Munich dugout. Managers can be valuable too.

Barcelona want to keep Marcus Rashford but can’t afford the asking price

Rumour rating: 8

Unlike Real Madrid, Barcelona are not exactly rolling in it. Yes, they posted an operating profit last season for the first time since the 2018/19 campaign. But with a new stadium under construction, registering new players while complying with the limitations imposed on spending by La Liga rules has been a constant struggle.

With six goals and five assists in 14 games since leaving Manchester United on a season-long loan, Marcus Rashford has more than demonstrated his value to the La Liga champions, not to mention other potential suitors. It is not hard to imagine that Barcelona want to keep him – but neither is it surprising that they are allegedly unable to make good on a £26m option to make the transfer permanent. Another reason for Flick’s apparent discontent? Quite possibly.