Guéhi leaves worries behind to focus on earning England spot

Having impressed Tuchel, the Crystal Palace defender now looks at home in a tight-knit 'brotherhood'

- David Hytner

For Marc Guéhi, the flicker of self-doubt was understandable. The Crystal Palace centre-half had starred for England at Euro 2024, a first-choice selection under Gareth Southgate, and his status was intact at the end of Lee Carsley’s caretaker spell in the first half of last season.

Enter Thomas Tuchel and it is worth remembering that this was the manager who had sanctioned Guéhi’s sale from Chelsea to Palace in the summer of 2021. Guéhi certainly remembered. Did Tuchel fancy him? When the new broom swept Dan Burn into the starting XI for his first game in charge, against Albania at Wembley in March, leaving Guéhi as an unused substitute, it did not look great.

Tuchel started Guéhi in the next game, against Latvia, also at Wembley, before he was unable to pick him for his second camp in June, which took in the matches against Andorra away and Senegal in Nottingham. Guéhi had sustained an eye injury during Palace’s historic FA Cup final victory against Manchester City.

“I’d say it’s natural for every player to almost question that,” Guéhi says, reflecting on his absence against Albania. “New manager coming in ... who knows what the team’s going to look like, who knows who’s going to play?”

What Guéhi did next was what he always does - stay firmly in the moment, as balanced as possible. Which would serve him well during a dramatic end to the summer transfer window when the Palace chair, Steve Parish, blocked his proposed move to Liverpool.