Is Man City signing Guehi the Premier League's best centre-back?

As Marc Guehi begins the latest chapter of his career, football writer Tom Hancock analyses why the 25-year-old is among the best in the business.

Manchester City have made another big statement of intent in the January transfer window, completing the signing of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.

Having already signed Antoine Semenyo from AFC Bournemouth, Man City have now added one of the Premier League’s most highly rated centre-backs to their ranks as they aim to chase down Arsenal in pursuit of the title.

The bargain of the season?

Since joining Palace in 2021, having left Chelsea without making a Premier League appearance, Guehi has gone from strength to strength, proving himself a world-class centre-back capable of operating in a back three or four, doing the former for Palace and the latter for England.

Captain as Palace beat Man City to win the 2024/25 FA Cup, the club’s first-ever major trophy, and an integral component of England’s run to the UEFA EURO 2024 final, Guehi was reportedly poised to join Liverpool last summer – only for that move to fall through on Deadline Day.

That interest from the reigning Premier League champions showed the regard in which Guehi is held – and Man City, even though Guehi was due to be out of contract and available on a free transfer this summer, might just have scored themselves one of the bargains of the season, completing the deal for a reported £20million.

'A big sponge'

Guehi's England colleague, and now Man City team-mate, John Stones gave some insight into how Guehi has come to grow into such an outstanding player in his position.

Speaking before Euro 2024, Stones described him as “like a big sponge” in the way he absorbs information to develop his game.

At 25, Guehi plays with a maturity and authority beyond his years – as evidenced by Palace’s decision to hand him the captain’s armband ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. Indeed, he’s even known in the England camp as “Uncle Marc”.

Guehi might also be said to have sponge-like qualities for the way he cleans up, both in terms of thwarting opposition attacks through a combination of great physicality and precise positioning, and winning the ball back higher up the pitch.

On the latter front, Guehi has been among the top-ranking Premier League centre-backs since the start of last season, regaining possession in the final third eight times – placing him behind only Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah (nine) and another of his new team-mates at the Etihad Stadium, Josko Gvardiol (10).

In terms of recovering the ball anywhere on the pitch, Guehi’s output is comparable to other standout top-flight centre-backs like Arsenal’s William Saliba and Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi. Since the beginning of 2024/25, Guehi averages 4.33 recoveries per 90 – Saliba averages 4.45 and Senesi 4.99.

A forward-thinking defender

Not only do Guehi’s impressive numbers for winning possession in the final third show his proactivity when it comes to forcing turnovers in dangerous areas; they go hand-in-hand with his quality on the ball.

This is an attribute which will doubtless have been at the forefront of Pep Guardiola’s desire to bring him to Man City.

While two of Guehi’s four assists for club and country this season have been headers, his pass to set up Daniel Munoz for Palace’s winning goal at Burnley in December was a thing of beauty.

He demonstrated the danger he poses when in possession – which he ought to see a lot more of as he moves from a team averaging 43.1 per cent possession per game to one averaging 59.2 per cent, the second-most in the Premier League.

Watch Guehi's assist for Munoz v Burnley

That assist for Munoz perfectly exemplified an inherent benefit of deploying Guehi, a naturally right-footed player, in a left-sided centre-back role.

The England international is able to do maximum damage with his slick diagonal balls, reminiscent of those unleashed by Virgil van Dijk for Mohamed Salah at Liverpool.

It’s all part of Guehi’s line-breaking prowess. From the start of 2024/25 onwards, Guehi ranks sixth among Premier League centre-backs for line-breaking passes completed (470) – one place behind yet another of his new Man City colleagues, Ruben Dias – and third for line-breaking passes leading to shots (34).

Brighton & Hove Albion’s Jan Paul van Hecke tops both of those categories.

And Guehi’s creative threat is reinforced by the fact that no top-flight centre-back has created more big chances since the beginning of last season than his nine.

He also ranks third for chances created from open play over that period with 23 – behind Gvardiol and Everton’s James Tarkowski (both 29) – and Expected Assists (xA) with 3.46 – behind Gvardiol (3.57) and Senesi (4.02).