Missing out on a centre-back can feel like a straight hit to the nerves, especially when you think about cover across a long season. But if the talk around Marc Guehi’s wages is even close to true, you can see why Liverpool might dig their heels in. Fees get headlines. The wage packet is what quietly shapes your squad for years.
Guehi does tick boxes, just not every one
On paper, he makes loads of sense. Homegrown, the right age profile, reads danger early, and he’s comfortable playing through the lines. There’s also that sense of leadership about him, which is never a bad thing in a back line that has to handle Anfield expectation and the chaos of Premier League transitions.
But I do think there’s a fair question about what version of Guehi you’re really buying. In a back three or back five, as the extra centre-half, he looks tailor-made. He can step in, cover, and play without being asked to eat up the whole width of a high line on his own.
The back-two question: space, aerials, and trade-offs
If he’s coming in to play as part of a pair, it becomes a different conversation. Liverpool centre-backs in a two often end up defending big spaces, especially when the full-backs are high and the press gets played through. That’s where the very top ones stand out: the size, the recovery pace, the ability to dominate in the air when teams go direct.
At 5ft 11, Guehi can still be a top defender, but it’s not nothing. You’re asking him to win long balls, defend throw-ins, deal with the more old-school “put it on their heads” stuff that teams lean on when they’re under pressure. And if he’s not a monster in the air compared to the very best, you’re potentially swapping one set of strengths for a different set of vulnerabilities.
What Liverpool might look for instead
Truth is, you can like Guehi and still wonder if he’s being talked up into something he isn’t. A good player? Absolutely. A bargain at the right fee? Possibly. A “Rolls Royce” at huge wages? I’m not sure.
That’s why names like Jan Paul van Hecke are interesting in theory: bigger, aggressive, and comfortable progressing the ball. And if you want someone who ticks nearly every box, Nico Schlotterbeck has that profile too, even if the balance of left-side and right-side centre-backs is always part of the puzzle.
The key is fit. Not just talent, not just price, not just a shiny new name. Fit for the way Liverpool want to defend and build under Arne Slot, and fit for the wage structure that keeps the whole thing standing up.
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