Slot in dreamland as perfect signing chooses Liverpool over Man City – he’ll immediately start | OneFootball

A trusted source from The Athletic has it on good authority a player Liverpool and Manchester City are both desperate to sign has chosen the Reds, though there is still Arsenal to contend with.

There comes a handful of times each year when most if not all of England’s top sides converge on the same player. That was true of Antoine Semenyo before Man City won the race, though Pep Guardiola’s side might not be so lucky with Marc Guehi.

The Crystal Palace centre-back will leave Selhurst Park at some stage in 2026. Man City hope to accelerate the departure and sign the defender in the January window.

There’s no shortage of interest in Guehi from overseas, with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona his three most prominent suitors in that regard.

But from closer to home, City’s biggest rivals for Guehi are Liverpool and Arsenal who would both rather wait until season’s end before signing Guehi via free agency.

And according to The Athletic’s Sam Lee – who specialises in covering Man City – Guehi favours Liverpool over City.

“I was told by somebody who knows what’s going on at City, but also I think probably Palace as well, he said he thinks Guehi wants to stay until the summer and he prefers Liverpool [to City] in any case,” said Lee.

Lee went on to touch on Arsenal, with the reporter suggesting that while Liverpool might have nothing to fear from City, they still have to out-gun the Gunners.

He added: “Somebody else messaged me on X and I know he’s very good on other club stuff, he was like; ‘Yeah, he wants to stay until the summer – and he prefers Liverpool and Arsenal’.

“I was like; ‘Well I haven’t heard Arsenal’, but that kind of tallies what I’d been told the night before.”

Should Liverpool sign Guehi, the expectation is he’ll immediately become Virgil van Dijk’s new partner at centre-half.

Ibrahima Konate is out of contract in the summer, but even if staying, the Frenchman has been comfortably one of Liverpool’s worst performers this season.

The issue for Arne Slot is in his mind, he’s lacked a viable alternative to Konate, meaning the Frenchman has retained his position in the eleven even when his performances have suggested he should be dropped.

Giovanni Leoni is sidelined with an ACL injury, while Joe Gomez – on the rare occasions he’s fit – is utilised as cover at right-back.

With Conor Bradley now out for the season and set to undergo knee surgery, Gomez will continue to battle with Jeremie Frimpong at right-back and Konate will once again get a free pass, no matter how much he struggles.

Centre-back is unquestionably an area Liverpool must strengthen in 2026 and the Reds have already taken steps towards doing just that by wrapping up a triple coup to bolster their academy ranks.

In other news, RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande – who TEAMtalk understands Liverpool have eyed as their heir to Mohamed Salah – has publicly stated he wants to join Liverpool.