Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi is not currently looking to leave the club to force his way into the England team, according to transfer insider Dean Jones for GiveMeSport.
The lowdown
The 22-year-old has won three caps for his country, making his debut against Switzerland in March before featuring against Italy and Hungary in June.
Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate included him in the squad last month for the final set of fixtures before the World Cup, but the Eagles defender watched on from the sidelines.
Guehi only joined Palace in the summer of 2021 but he has already attracted interest from some of England’s leading clubs, with The Athletic reporting that Spurs had been ‘big admirers’ of him over the summer.
The latest
Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jones said that Guehi is content at Selhurst Park and is willing to ‘bide his time’ at the international level, rather than trying to forced a move away from south London to improve his England prospects.
He outlined: “In terms of Guehi, from what I understand, he’s happy with his role. He knows that breaking into the England line-up might require some patience and he’s going to have to bide his time.”
The verdict
Southgate used four different players in his central defensive setup across the two games against Italy and Germany – Eric Dier, Harry Maguire, John Stones and Kyle Walker.
If there’s one player who may theoretically be vulnerable ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, it’s Maguire, who has lost his place in the Manchester United side. By contrast, Guehi has played every single Premier League minute for Palace so far this season.
Even if he can’t break into the starting line-up, he knows that, at the age of 22, he is still in the early phase of his career and should have plenty more opportunities to play in major tournaments.
Ranking in the 79th percentile among centre-backs in the top five European leagues for dribbles completed per 90, he is a centre-half with a modern, progressive skillset.
Former England under-21 goalkeeper Josef Bursik has previously dubbed him an ‘absolute tank’ and a ‘brick wall’, which suggests that Guehi can do the ugly side of the game too, so it must be reassuring for Palace fans to hear that the 22-year-old seems content at Selhurst Park.