Why are Man City signing Marc Guehi? Crystal Palace captain adds to £443m splurge since January 2025

Manchester City are on the verge of signing Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi for a fee in the region of £20million.

Outgoing Palace manager Oliver Glasner told a Friday press conference that Guehi would not be in his squad to face Sunderland this weekend because his move to another club was "in the final stages".

Glasner did not confirm Guehi's destination and City boss Pep Guardiola refused to discuss the transfer at during his own briefing prior to Saturday's derby against Manchester United.

But multiple outlets, including BBC Sport, reported Guehi would become City's second signing of the January window after Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo's £64million arrival.

Semenyo has scored twice in his first two games for Guardiola's side, who are competing for honours on four fronts but sit six points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race. 

In this context, why have the 10-time English champions chosen this moment to move for the England centre-back?

MORE: Why Man City signed Antoine Semenyo

Why have Man City signed Marc Guehi?

Injuries

After an unprecedented period of player turnover in the Guardiola era in 2025 (more on that later), City looked like a team in transition during the early weeks of the season. 

As he looked for winning combinations – City eventually settled and strung together eight victories across all competitions between November 29 and December 27 – Guardiola rotated less than has typically been the case. This was especially true at centre-back, where Ruben Dias started all but one of City's first 20 Premier League games. Despite missing the first three games of the season through injury, Josko Gvardiol was Dias' starting partner for 14 of these matches. The 23-year-old also completed 90 minutes in the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, where he started at left-back.

The strain told during the January 4 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, where Dias sustained a hamstring injury during the closing stages. That will keep the Portugal star out until mid-February. Earlier in the contest, Gvardiol suffered a fractured fibula that could sideline hi for the rest of the season and puts his participation in Croatia's World Cup campaign in doubt.

With John Stones already on the sidelines, City recalled Max Alleyne from his loan spell at Watford and the 20-year-old has started the past three games at centre-back alongside 21-year-old Uzbekistan international Abdukodir Khusanov, a £33.6m signing from Lens last January.

Khusanov's purchase was, in part, a response to the defensive injury crisis that decimated City's 2024/25 campaign. Nathan Ake, a centre-back by trade, has played at left-back outside the young central defensive duo since Dias and Gvardiol went down, but came off towards the end of the 2-0 Carabao Cup semifinal, first leg win at Newcastle with his left leg heavily strapped.

Guardiola appears to understandably have concerns over a repeat of last year's unravelling and, as well as Khusanov and Alleyne have played since being called upon, an experienced Premier League defender of Guehi's calibre being ready and available right now carries obvious appeal.

As shown with the Semenyo deal, City's director of football Hugo Viana is clearly more prepared to move in an opportunistic manner and react to circumstances than his predecessor Txiki Begiristain. But the 25-year-old Guehi is not simply a signing for the short term.

MORE: How Man City's spending under Pep Guardiola compared to rest of Premier League 'big six'

Defensive rebuild

City will have seven centre-backs in the first-team squad when Guehi joins Dias, Gvardiol, Khusanov, Alleyne, Ake and Stones. In the immediate term, we can discount Gvardiol, while Stones has no estimated return date from his latest injury travails.

Once Dias, more or less a guaranteed starter when fit for big games, comes back, that's still a lot to play with. However, throwing forward to next season, it's almost certain Stones and Ake will leave once their contracts expire. Netherlands international Ake has been linked with a move this month, and that talk will likely ramp up following Guehi's arrival.

Through this lens, Guehi is the centre-back City would have looked to buy in the summer but have brought this piece of business forward due to his contract at Palace winding down and injuries at the Etihad Stadium.

Dias, Gvardiol, Guehi, Khusanov and the newly emerged Alleyne would represent a solid set of options for 2026/27. We should also consider that there is a good chance of Khusanov and Gvardiol spending time at right-back and left-back respectively, given the attack-minded Rayan Ait-Nouri is the only natural full-back in the first-team squad.

Value for money

This is the obvious one. If City were to move for an established international centre-back this summer, it would likely cost them in excess of the £77m deployed to bring in Gvardiol from RB Leipzig in August 2023.

Buying Guehi for around a quarter of that amount due to him only having six months left on his contract at Selhurst Park was an opportunity too good to turn down.

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Homegrown quota

Not the major consideration here, but Guehi puts City's homegrown quota for Premier League and Champions League squads in a nice place.

Both competitions state that clubs can have no more than 17 non-homegrown players in their 25-man squads. UEFA rules are a little more stringent and stage four of the eight homegrown players must have been with their club for three consecutive seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.

City are at non-homegrown capacity in their Champions League squad this season, but Guehi and London-born Ghana international Semenyo do not cause them any further headaches in that regard.

MORE: Rodri sets Man City brutal challenge in Premier League title chase with Arsenal

How much have Man City spent since January 2025?

As their 2024/25 campaign fell to pieces during a remarkable slump of one win in 13 matches, City brought forward a chunk of their intended summer 2025 rebuild, which had itself been erroneously put off after the 2023/24 season. Including the expected £20m for Guehi, along with fees paid for Vitor Reis, Juma Bah and Sverre Nypan, who are all out on loan, Guardiola has overseen £442.9m of spending on 14 players over the past 12 months.

Counting from January 2025 is understandable given the level of transfer activity, but it's worth noting that City turned a profit of £135.8m in summer 2024, a figure that included the club-record sale of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for £81.5m.

Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Ilkay Gundogan, all stalwarts of Guardiola's four-in-a-row title winners between 2020/21 and 2023/24 have also left permanently since August 2024. Stones, Ake and Jack Grealish - on loan at Everton this season - are likely to follow them in summer 2026, taking a further sizeable chunk off a wage bill that must now absorb Guehi's reported £200,000 per week salary.

Since Janaury 2025, the sales of James McAtee to Nottingham Forest (£30m) and Yan Couto to Borussia Dortmund (£25.2m) have contributed to £100m in sales.

Nevertheless, such a high volume of transfer activity has caused plenty of consternation, given the Premier League's so-called 115 case against City over allegations of serious financial impropriety remains without a verdict. The 12-week hearing before an independent commission at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London concluded in December 2024. City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023, with the alleged breaches of competition rules spanning 2009 to 2018. The club deny all allegations of wrongdoing. 

Man City signings since January 2025

*On loan at Girona
+On loan at Nice
# On loan at Middlesbrough