Crystal Palace are in big trouble if Marc Guehi leaves – Oliver Glasner | OneFootball

Oliver Glasner has warned Crystal Palace are in “big trouble” if they lose captain Marc Guehi before recruiting reinforcements.

Eberechi Eze, who was not involved in the 1-0 Conference League first-leg play-off victory over Fredrikstad, is expected to complete a £60million move to Arsenal, while Guehi, who did start at Selhurst Park, has been heavily linked to Liverpool.

Palace’s incomings have been limited – much to Glasner’s frustration – to Croatian defender Borna Sosa from Ajax and backup goalkeeper Walter Benitez, who joined on a free transfer, while the deadline has passed for any new additions to be eligible for next week’s return leg in Norway.

“I just know if Marc leaves and he’s not available for Fredrikstad we will have big troubles,” said Glasner.

“It’s pretty clear, we can’t register anyone, so from my side he has to stay.”

Asked if he was referring to just the trip to Fredrikstad or the whole season, Glasner said: “We played with Jefferson Lerma in the back today.

“He’s a midfield player. We have no centre-back available at the moment, and if Marc leaves, OK, maybe I will try my boots, because I was a centre-back. This could be an option. I will think about it.”

Glasner had earlier emphasised his predicament in an interview on Channel 5 where, asked about the importance of hanging on to Guehi, said: “We have to. Honestly, we have to, especially for the second leg.”

The Palace boss does not expect any of his injured players to return before the trip to Norway – let alone Sunday’s Premier League home opener against Forest – and he revealed Will Hughes, Chris Richards and Tyrick Mitchell were all dealing with “issues”.

He reiterated: “So I think there’s no other choice than keeping Marc.”

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Glasner added: “(Guehi) knows (how I feel), not (just) since today, and everybody knows it. Again, it’s not for me. It’s just, if we want to compete in all these competitions we need players, and that’s pretty clear.

“It’s not demanding anything. You could see again, today we had two players on the bench we already told them they should leave us. We had one from the academy. That means we had 14 outfield players from our regular squad.”

Glasner, like Guehi, is signed to an agreement at Palace until the end of next season, and recently only offered up a “we will see” when asked if what the Eagles do in this transfer window would affect his outlook around opening contract negotiations.

Palace co-owner and chairman Steve Parish, speaking to Channel 5, vowed to back Glasner and “get what we can get done”, but added: “If (Guehi) wants to sign a contract then he can stay. If he doesn’t sign a contract then we have to look at it. It’s a difficult situation.

“If you’re in Europe, the financial rules are a lot tighter than the Premier League. Everybody has to sell players to comply with the rules. Players leaving on a free, that’s not an ideal situation for the football club. I’m not going to pretend that it is, so that’s the situation we will have to look at in the next 11 days.”