Marc Guehi Liverpool transfer collapse highlights English vs. foreign differences, ex-Reds striker claims

Marc Guehi's failed deadline-day move to Liverpool from Crystal Palace is another example of English players getting on with the job, and footballers going on strike to force exits is almost exclusively an issue with foreign players, a former Reds striker has claimed.

Guehi was seemingly set to join Arne Slot's side in a £35m deal during the final hours of the summer window, but after agreeing a contract with the Reds and completing part of his medical, the deal fell through due to Palace's inability to sign a replacement.

Eagles boss Oliver Glasner allegedly threatened to quit the club if Guehi was sold, but the England international remained professional throughout the saga, even though he was reported to have understandably felt disappointed at the last-minute collapse.

Guehi's attitude contrasts to the measures taken by Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa, who refused to train and made public statements in bids to force their moves to Liverpool and Newcastle United respectively, and such tactics worked for both players.

As a result, Emile Heskey - a six-time trophy winner with Liverpool - agrees that there is now a bad precedent with player power, although he suggested that the problem is centred around foreign players, exclusively telling Sports Mole: “You don’t often see this from English players.

Heskey on Guehi: 'You don't see English players going on strike'

"Over the years, it has only been foreign players who have gone on strike, where the English players just get on with their football and let it all play out and get on with their job.

“There have been more foreign players to go on strike, not train, to get what they want. I don’t like it at all really. You look at Guehi, a true professional, and us English lads just get on with playing and doing our job as footballers.

“It’s not a good look for the game at all. I don’t like it, it is a bad precedent for sure. You look what Isak did for Newcastle last season and now he won’t go down as a hero, which he would have been if he would have got on with his job and got his move in the end.”

While Liverpool's late pursuit of Guehi in the summer window failed to bear fruit, the 25-year-old is expected to join the champions either in January or at the end of the season, when his contract with Crystal Palace expires.

Guehi would be a like-for-like replacement for Ibrahima Konate, who is also out of contract in 2026 and is being tipped to join Real Madrid on a free transfer, although the situation could change if the Frenchman performs a U-turn on his stance over a renewal.

Guehi transfer collapse: Have English players ever gone on strike to force moves?

Based on this summer alone, Heskey's claim that foreign players are more likely to go on strike holds weight, but there have been a couple of notable examples of Englishmen taking extra measures to engineer an exit.

It has been a decade since Raheem Sterling left Liverpool for Manchester City in acrimonious circumstances in 2015, as the winger refused offers of a new contract, asked to be left off the Reds' pre-season tour squad and did not turn up to training owing to an apparent illness.

Six years later, then-Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane allegedly remained on holiday for longer than he was supposed to - according to The Telegraph - amid links with Manchester City, forcing him to miss Spurs' first two matches of the 2021-22 Premier League season, but Daniel Levy refused to honour a supposed gentleman's agreement and the England captain stayed for two more years.

However, when it comes to the most memorable instances of players going on strike, non-Englishmen do spring to mind, from Isak and Wissa to the likes of Peter Odemwingie, William Gallas, Dimitri Payet and Carlos Tevez.

Odemwingie's car interview on deadline day 2013 has its place in football infamy, Gallas supposedly threatened to score an own goal against Chelsea - accusations from the club that he denied - Payet refused to play for West Ham United and Tevez briefly abandoned Manchester City to return to his native Argentina.

Emile Heskey was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of William Hill.