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Arsenal has confirmed the arrival of $91 million (£67 million) attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze — and Liverpool will hope to further compound the Crystal Palace misery by signing center-back and captain Marc Guehi.
Earlier this week, manager Oliver Glasner admitted that his side was short of numbers ahead of a first-leg win in the Europa Conference League qualifier against the Norwegian outfit Frederikstad. But chief executive Steve Parish has already stated that his side cannot afford to lose Guehi for nothing, opening the door for a cut-price exit this month.
If Crystal Palace were to lose both Eze and Guehi in the final week or so of the transfer window, that would leave a huge hole in Glasner's roster. At this stage of the summer, there isn't much time to sign replacements.
"If Marc leaves, maybe I will try my boots because I was a center-back," Glasner joked this week. "We have to act. It's Crystal Palace's future and we need to add numbers."
But after Crystal Palace beat Liverpool in the Community Shield, Parish admitted that Guehi could leave as well. At that point, it wasn't clear that Eze was going to be on the move, though losing both would be the nightmare scenario.
"For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it's a problem for us, unfortunately," Parish said. "Joachim [Andersen] went [to Fulham last summer] and we couldn't afford to lose both.
"We then had another bid [for Guehi] in January, but that was a different situation. We'll just have to see what happens. But, you know, it needs a new contract or a conclusion of some kind."
"If Marc Guehi wants to sign a contract, he can stay," Parish then told Channel 5 this week. "If he doesn't, we have to look at it.
"It's a difficult situation, everyone has to sell players to comply with the rules. Players leaving on a free is not an ideal situation. That's a situation that we will have to look at in the next few days."
'We are very, very late to find replacements," Glasner said. "I think we could have behaved much better than we did. It's not the best way to start the season. I think we are below the edge.
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"I just know if Marc leaves and is not available for Frederikstad, we will have big troubles. That's pretty clear. We can't register anyone. So from my side, he has to stay."
The transfer window closes on Monday, September 1 at 7pm UK time (12pm ET). Crystal Palace plays the second leg against Frederikstad on Thursday, with Jean-Philippe Mateta netting the only goal of the game in the first game.
Liverpool.com says: Guehi has all the power here. If Liverpool has to wait until next summer to sign him for nothing, that wouldn't be the worst thing. Giovanni Leoni's arrival has taken the pressure off a little in that position.
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