Marc Guehi speaks out as Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish’s gamble backfires with Newcastle

Marc Guehi speaks out as Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish’s gamble backfires with Newcastle

Newcastle United stopped bidding for Marc Guehi after Crystal Palace’s demands

Marc Guehi has admitted that he ‘needs to do better’ after the Newcastle United target endured a testing afternoon against Leicester City.

Jamie Vardy may be 13 years older than Guehi, but the Leicester City veteran rolled back the years and burst past the England international with ease to open the scoring for the Foxes against Crystal Palace at the weekend. Guehi was also among those Crystal Palace players who failed to deal with James Justin’s cross in the build-up to Stephy Mavididi scoring Leicester’s second goal at Selhurst Park.

Crystal Palace may have recovered to claim a point, in a 2-2 draw, but Guehi was the first to recognise it was a ‘tough day’ with ‘a lot of unforced errors’ after the Eagles captain fronted up at full-time.

“A bit of concentration for us, especially myself,” he said. “I think I can do a lot better. I need to do a lot better in helping the team and doing my job a little bit better…I like to put a lot of pressure on myself so I need to do better.”

It has been a challenging start to the campaign for Guehi who, just weeks after a superb debut tournament at the Euros, found himself being hailed as a generational talent by Steve Parish in one of the many interviews the Crystal Palace chairman gave while Newcastle attempted to strike a deal for the 24-year-old. Parish wanted ‘superstar money’ for Guehi, which always felt like a gamble for a player with less than two years left on his contract, particularly given the centre-back’s form since.

Although discussions continued with Crystal Palace, Newcastle stopped formally bidding for Guehi weeks before the window shut last month after the Magpies felt the Eagles demands went beyond the club’s limits and beyond what they should be paying. Whether the move is revisited in 2025 remains to be seen – Crystal Palace will have to lower their mooted £70m asking price for a player who will have even less time left on his deal – but Parish has since claimed that the Eagles ‘want to be selling to clubs like Newcastle who have got great aspirations’.

Newcastle United have been warned they are playing a dangerous game with Eddie Howe by sending him into press conferences having to respond to critical statements made by his own employers.

Despite beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on Sunday, Howe still faced a host of questions about politics after sporting director Paul Mitchell’s strong comments during the international break. The interview was the talk of the Press room at Molineux on Sunday before the game and even during Sky Sports commentator Bill Leslie’s broadcast on Sunday he referred to poor communication before Jamie Carragher warned Howe would “go” if it didn’t improve.