Marc Guehi - Perspective, please. Not panic.

Liverpool look foolish here; no dressing that up.

Centre-back has been an exposed weakness for too long, and everyone knew that even before the January window opened.

So when a proven Premier League defender, homegrown, durable, available at £20m with time ticking on his contract appears, you either move or accept the consequences. Liverpool did neither, and that passivity is rightly being mocked.

But perspective matters.

Marc Guehi is a good centre back. He’s reliable, composed, tactically literate, a leader at Palace, and rarely lets standards slip. He’ll improve City’s depth immediately, especially given their injuries, and he’ll do his job without fuss. That’s valuable, and at that price it’s clever business.

What he is not, is some lost colossus who tilts the balance of English football on his own. The hysteria would have you believe Liverpool have watched a generational defender stroll past the AXA entrance gates. They haven’t. Guehi is not dominant in the air, not physically imposing, not a defensive organiser who drags a line up by force of will. He thrives in structure, with protection, with the ball moving quickly around him. That suits City perfectly.

Liverpool missing him is embarrassing because of timing and planning, not because of the player himself. There are centre-backs better suited to Liverpool’s demands, quicker across the ground, stronger in recovery, and more aggressive in space. Those options still exist, if the club choose to act like they exist.

So criticise the club, absolutely. Question the foresight, the inertia, the blind faith that problems fix themselves. But losing your head over Guehi joining City says more about transfer trauma than football judgement.

There’s also the rumoured £300,000 per week contract City have thrown his way. Could Liverpool have truly justified putting Guehi into their top-tier wage bracket?

City have been sharp. Liverpool have been sloppy. Guehi will be fine. The world keeps turning.