Guehi, a 21-year-old centre-back, joins Palace after a season-and-a-half on loan at Championship side Swansea City.
Follow Us
Crystal Palace have completed the signing of Marc Guehi from Chelsea on a five-year deal. The 21-year-old centre-back joins Palace after a season-and-a-half on loan at Championship side Swansea City. Guehi played 59 games and helped Swansea City to secure sixth and fourth-placed league finishes consecutively. The young, talented Londoner joins the likes of Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha in sticking to his roots by putting pen to paper with Crystal Palace.
“I’m very excited. It’s a great opportunity for me to come to such a big club in the Premier League. I’m really excited to get going. [The club is taking] a really exciting direction with the new gaffer that’s come in. A lot of good young players are here and obviously, such a stable club with top players really enticed me and made me want to come. [Patrick Vieira] speaks for himself. The player he was, the way he conducts himself and even recently as a manager, he has a really good record. When he was at Nice he did some really good work there and I’m really excited to work with him,” said Guehi as quoted by Crystal Palace’s official website.
“[I was] born in the Ivory Coast, born in Abidjan, came here at the age of one and lived in England all my life. I grew up mainly in Lewisham, so I know the area. I obviously moved closer to where I was at Chelsea but I’m a London boy and know exactly what it’s about to be a London boy. When you’re from south London, it’s really exciting. You know what the feel’s about, what the fans are about and you have that real connection. [Selhurst Park] is one of the stadiums in the Premier League that has the best fans, always rocking there. A fantastic atmosphere, so I’m hopefully going to experience that one day,” he added.
Guehi says he knew Eze, Olise, Nya Kirby and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi before making the switch to Crystal Palace, having enjoyed one of his career highlights: winning the Under-17 World Cup alongside them for the Young Lions.
“That was a fantastic experience. Just to be a part of something like that so young in the England setup, playing with some of the best young talents with the likes of Phil Foden, who plays for [Manchester] City, and Jadon Sancho. It was fantastic for me personally.”
Guehi will look to develop as a professional under Viera, who was recently hailed by youngster Rob Street.
“I’ve loved it. He’s been really good, really clear with his messages which is great for us young guys. All the coaching staff he’s brought in have been brilliant as well so I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s great to be playing again. Obviously we’ve had two weeks of training but nothing beats a game. It’s great to get the start and get used to this new formation with this new manager,” he said.
It will be interesting to note the performance of Crystal Palace in the upcoming Premier League season.
