Marc Guehi emerged from Euro 2024 as the England squad’s biggest winner.
Much of the discussion before the tournament was about whether the 24-year-old could fill the hole left by the injured Harry Maguire, a stalwart of Gareth Southgate’s England team. Could a Crystal Palace centre-back who had never played at a senior international tournament really replace him?
The question was soon answered. Dubbed “Uncle Marc” by Jude Bellingham due to his maturity, Guehi was imperious in England’s 1-0 win over Serbia in the opening game, often seeming like the calmer head alongside the more decorated John Stones, who grew into the tournament.
Besides the quarter-final, which Guehi missed due to a second yellow card picked up in the round of 16, he played every minute. While more casual observers might have been surprised to see him adjust so quickly to the biggest stage, there was no such feeling within the Selhurst Park faithful, who have grown accustomed to this level of performance since he signed from Chelsea in 2021.
While Guehi, who was the subject of a bid by Newcastle United this week, lacks the style and fluidity in possession of Stones, he is every bit as effective at breaking opposition lines in several ways.
First, he does that with his favoured diagonal switch pass. Guehi mostly plays as a left centre-back for Palace but is right-footed, so a diagonal left to right is not as straightforward, yet he plays it often and accurately.
In the grabs below, Guehi faces Michael Olise, who is playing on the right wing but has three more straightforward, less penetrative passing options closer to him. Instead of playing simple to Will Hughes (left), Cheick Doucoure (middle) or Joachim Andersen, who has the space on the right to attack, Guehi plays a lofted driven pass towards Olise.
Had he played to Andersen, the ball might have ended up with Olise, but it would have allowed the Bournemouth defence to shift over and put more pressure on the winger. Guehi’s decision to be aggressive and play forward quickly meant Olise received the ball in space, allowing him to use his one-on-one quality to attack the full-back directly.
Guehi can also make more difficult passes from that position. With Palace cruising to a 3-1 home win over Aston Villa, he might’ve kept it simple after receiving a pass in his half, but Guehi remained ambitious and direct in possession.
With former Villa striker Danny Ings closing him down, Guehi steps up in possession and delivers a lofted pass over Villa’s defence and into the run of Hughes, who had broken through the heart of their back line.
His England team-mate Ezri Konsa is slow to react and the pass hits Hughes perfectly in stride just outside Villa’s 18-yard box, with only goalkeeper Emi Martinez to beat. Unfortunately for Guehi, Hughes hits a tame effort into the hands of the Argentina goalkeeper, who saves it comfortably.
Newcastle United already have considerable depth at left centre-back, with Sven Botman, Dan Burn and Lloyd Kelly, so if a move to St James’ Park materialises, Guehi would likely feature from the right. That would mean those left-to-right diagonal passes would be less frequent, replaced with switches from right to left — a more straightforward skill at long distances — to set up Anthony Gordon or Harvey Barnes, the perfect profiles to make the most of Guehi’s passing.
One thing that will undoubtedly translate, irrespective of slight positional variance, is Guehi’s quality on the ball. Guehi can break opposition lines by driving and carrying the ball through the thirds. Below is an example against Newcastle near the halfway line, with striker Callum Wilson closing the space.
Tyrick Mitchell is available for a simple pass left, but Guehi takes another touch under pressure from Wilson, who closes the angle. Instead of turning back to play towards the goalkeeper, Guehi feints back, taking Wilson off balance, before charging forward, taking the ball with his left foot. With Wilson out of the picture, he carries the ball towards the halfway line and passes square to Doucoure, who plays forwards.
While he is nominally a centre-back, his quality in possession prompted Palace head coach Oliver Glasner to play him in defensive midfield in Palace’s 5-0 demolishing of Aston Villa on the final day, where he excelled. He also switched frequently with Chris Richards, who started in defensive midfield while Guehi was at centre-back, in Palace’s 3-1 win over Brentford in December.
In these grabs, Guehi receives a pass from Mitchell facing his own goal while also being pressed by Brentford midfielder Mathias Jensen — one of the most complicated situations to navigate for a defensive midfielder, let alone for a player who rarely plays in that position.
Despite options on either side of him, Guehi fakes right and takes the ball left, evading Jensen’s press. With Olise out on the right wing, Guehi passes to the French attacker, who cuts inside and finishes with his left foot.
With standout options like Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali in defensive midfield, Newcastle’s head coach Eddie Howe might never need to use Guehi in that position, but his positional fluidity and confidence in possession are probably among the reasons Newcastle are pursuing his signature with intent.
With Fabian Schar out of contract next summer and Jamal Lascelles recovering from an ACL injury that could keep him out until the new year, in the long term Guehi would presumably play as right centre-back, with Botman, also currently recovering from an ACL injury, on the left. Their profiles complement each other well.
While Botman is aggressive in aerial duels and a front-footed defender, Guehi is more content to sit back and cover. He has the pace to keep up with quick attackers and will often lurk behind his more active partner to clean up loose balls and track runners in case his team-mate loses the initial duel.
Here, Guehi drops a couple of yards below his partner Andersen, with Newcastle attacker Wilson preparing to play a pass behind the defensive line to the extremely quick Allan Saint-Maximin. When Wilson plays the pass, Guehi turns his body and retreats backwards while Saint-Maximin sprints forward, putting momentum in the Newcastle forward’s favour.
However, Guehi matches Saint-Maximin, who now plays for Fenerbahce on loan from Saudi side Al Ahli, stride for stride, winning a clean tackle inside the box to put the ball out for a corner.
As shown in the smarterscout pizza chart above, Guehi is very effective on the rare occasion he does press attackers tightly (defensive impact, 95). In the grabs below, he reads a line-breaking pass from Maguire and closes down full-back Diogo Dalot quickly after he had drifted into the centre of the pitch. Guehi is sharp on Dalot’s touch, dispossessing him easily before playing the ball forward to Eberechi Eze.
While he is outstanding in ground duels, the primary question mark around Guehi’s game is his prominence in the air. At 6ft (183cm), Guehi is not the most physically imposing centre-back, which likely influences his decision to sweep up behind a more aerially dominant partner.
With 1.29 aerial duels won per 90 minutes, Guehi was in the bottom 13 per cent of central defenders in Europe’s top five leagues last season and his lack of aerial proficiency put England’s defence in difficult situations on more than one occasion during the Euros.
Most notably, Guehi was targeted by Slovakia in England’s 2-1 win after extra time in the round of 16. Slovakia frequently sent direct passes towards Slovakia’s tall attackers, who appeared to prefer facing Guehi in the air than Stones. While Guehi competed well generally, winning seven out of 13 aerial duels (54 per cent), he was beaten in the air for Slovakia’s goal.
After losing the initial duel, Guehi was slow in spotting Ivan Schranz’s run from the right wing, leaving the Slavia Prague attacker with a free road to score the opener.
Guehi’s tendency to lose attackers running from deep was again on show in the Euros final, allowing Mikel Oyarzabal to run across him from a cross and tap home the tournament’s winner. Losing track of runners is something he must correct to become one of the Premier League’s best central defenders.
That said, there are very few weaknesses in Guehi’s game. Alongside his quality on the pitch, he’s a leader and often wears the captain’s armband for Palace as club vice-captain, an honour he initially refused out of respect to the more senior players. He was also earmarked as a future captain of his country by former Palace and England boss Roy Hodgson.
None of these accolades seem to have had a negative impact, as they sometimes might: Palace staff frequently cite him as one of the nicest people at the club. Just before leaving for the Euros, Guehi was chatting to the under-7s at his grassroots club, Cray Wanderers, congratulating them on winning the Eze Invitational, a youth tournament organised by his club and international team-mate.
With a big move on the cards and a pathway to establishing himself as a regular at the heart of England’s defence, Guehi may realise Hodgson’s prediction sooner than expected.
GO DEEPER
The rise of Marc Guehi – England’s quiet man now making noise at the Euros
(Top photo: Stu Forster via Getty Images)
