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Liverpool face strong interest from Bayern Munich in its pursuit of Marc Guehi which could scupper the Reds' chances of a deal.
The Reds missed out on landing center-back Guehi on deadline day when Crystal Palace pulled the plug on the transfer late on, despite both clubs having agreed a fee. Guehi, who is out of contract at the end of the season, is still expected to leave Selhurst Park.
But his availability as a free agent next summer has brought Bayern to the table, who can negotiate a pre-contract agreement with Guehi from January 1. Adding further weight to Bayern's cause is their relationship with Palace, having previously done a deal with the South London club to sign Guehi's old team-mate Michael Olise.
French winger Olise has flourished in Munich since his move last July, and Bayern have been tipped to compete for Guehi's signature in the coming months, too.
German publication BILD's head of football Christian Falk explained that Bayern are already drawing up their shortlist of targets for next summer, with Guehi very much part of their thinking.
Falk told CF Bayern Insider : “In defence, you have Marc Guehi – sure, the Crystal Palace centre-back is interesting. But he also would have cost money this summer.
“With the window shut, they now want to see how the defence will perform. Now, they have to see if it works, or if they’ll want to sell Kim Min-jae.
“Guehi could be an option for the future, but on this list is also Castello Lukeba from RB Leipzig.”
Bayern's pursuit of Guehi could also depend on whether Dayot Upamecano leaves the Bundesliga champions at the end of the season when his own contract expires.
Liverpool are facing a similar scenario with Ibrahima Konate into the final 12 months of his deal on Merseyside and linked with a free transfer to Real Madrid.
Reds boss Arne Slot wants to add Guehi to his defensive options regardless of whether Konate stays or not, but Bayern's interest could turn the England international's head if he is tempted by linking back up with Olise in Germany.
Real Madrid are also thought to be keeping tabs on Guehi's situation.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner moved to clarify why Guehi's proposed move to Liverpool broke down on deadline day, refuting claims he had threatened to walk out if the defender was sold.
“It’s the last time I want to talk about it,” Glasner said. “Especially the Crystal Palace fans deserve to hear how it really was. Number one, I never threatened to leave the club. Never.
“And the second thing is, after many discussions, the chairman [Steve Parish] asked me, ‘Oliver, do you think we can manage the season when we sell Marc?’
“I said: 'Steve, honestly, I think we can’t manage it in the short term if we buy a 19-year-old fantastic player with about 1,000 minutes in Ligue 1 and selling our captain with about 15,000 minutes in the Premier League. If we then have three centre-backs, with our schedule, if we have an injury, it’s very, very risky.
"If you want this scenario for Crystal Palace and you are fine with it, sell Marc. If you don’t want to have this for Crystal Palace, then we have to keep him'.
“And then he decided we keep him so big credit to the chairman. I didn’t have to threaten anybody. There were no bad tensions between the chairman and myself. It was just a discussion about sports.
“And he decided against the money and for the sporting prospective of Crystal Palace. So big credit to the chairman.”
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