That Guy Who Could Have Joined Liverpool – Aston Villa Star Admits Tough Opponent | OneFootball

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Aston Villa winger, Donyell Malen, has revealed that he had a really tough time against Crystal Palace defender and Liverpool target Marc Guehi this season.

Malen moved to Aston Villa from German giants Borussia Dortmund in January for a fee of £19m plus £2.5m in add-ons.

After featuring in 14 Premier League matches last term, he has managed to add eleven more to his name this season, but remarkably is yet to play for the full 90 minutes in any of his league outings for Villa.

Earlier this season, Malen came close to playing for the full 90 minutes against Crystal Palace, where he played 83 minutes overall and came face-to-face with Eagles’ defender Guehi.

England defender Guehi, he revealed, was really good in the 3-0 defeat and proved to be tough to play against; Guehi came close to joining Liverpool in the last summer transfer window and is still wanted at Anfield.

Referring to Guehi’s failed move to Liverpool in the summer, Malen told Dutch magazine ELF Voetbal: “We recently played against Crystal Palace. That guy, who could have gone to Liverpool last summer. He was very good.

“I had a really tough time against him.”

The Crystal Palace skipper was close to leaving the club in the summer, but a late deal eventually fell through after Crystal Palace failed to get in a replacement for him.

They wanted Igor from Brighton, but he rejected a move to Selhurst Park.

The knock on effect was Liverpool missing out on the centre-back they had chased all summer and some feel the Reds have paid the price for that already this season.

Malen does not have to worry about coming up against Guehi again until January, when Aston Villa travel to Crystal Palace.

However, with that game in the winter window, Guehi may not even be a Crystal Palace player by that point.

Aston Villa have another ten games to play before the window opens for business.