Crystal Palace: Steve Parish reveals why Marc Guehi did not join Liverpool after summer move collapsed | OneFootball

Former Chelsea centre-back was denied a big move at the last minute

Steve Parish has revealed why Marc Guehi remained at Crystal Palace this summer, after the defender saw a move to Liverpool collapse at the final hour.

Palace chairman Parish told talkSPORT that it was a club decision to keep Guehi for the campaign, rather than cash in a year early.

“It's a difficult decision," Parish said. “It's as simple as that these things are never black and white.

“I decided in the end that, based on the advice that I got and with what I think, that we would have a better season if we kept Marc.

“We don't guess about these things. If you look at it rationally, if you look at what is worth the place in the Premier League, the fact that we're in the Conference League for the first time in our history, this is a fairly unusual set of circumstances in which to keep a player.

“If we were fighting between the difference of 10th and 14th, if that was going to be the difference between keeping Marc and letting Marc go, then probably we would have said right, 'We should take the money.'”

Parish also spoke on two of Palace’s other central defenders, Jaydee Canvot and Chadi Riad, both of whom the Eagles hope can step into Guehi’s shoes when he eventually departs.

“We've got Jaydee [Canvot] who's coming in, who's going to develop as a player we hope,” Parish continued.

“We've [also] got Chadi [Riad] coming back from injury. Hopefully, we'll be okay. We should be okay, and that there's no big loss.

“But with the Conference League, with the way that we want to fight this season, maybe finishing the top half of the league for the first time, we felt it was a good decision to keep Marc.

“We've got Chadi coming back, hopefully in October. So in theory, we could get to a place where we don't need to buy one.

“We could get to a place where we don't need to replace Marc if we keep him all season.”

Riad has been sidelined long-term with an ACL injury that he suffered back in January, and the Moroccan has not played at all this term.