England manager Gareth Southgate has spoken of his admiration for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi, as the centre-back prepares to be among the squad to take on Italy at Wembley this evening.
Guéhi has earned six England caps since his move to south London in 2021, and has earned a reputation as one of the Premier League’s standout young defenders./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70757730/1381111483.0.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Former Palace captain Southgate has made no secret of his delight at the 23-year-old’s progress, and handed Guéhi consecutive starts against Ukraine and Scotland in the September international break.
The Three Lions take on Italy this evening at Wembley – a replay of the European Championship final in 2021 – and know that a draw is enough to book their place at the 2024 iteration in Germany.
“Marc is doing really, really well,” Southgate said in his pre-match press conference. “He’s played with great maturity in the two games last month.
“At times he might not catch the eye in the way that some other players do because he’s in the right place, so he’s not having to turn round and cover for something that he’s got wrong.
‘He’s a very calm player [and] positionally excellent. [He is] composed with the ball, [has a] very good mentality, so we think he’s developing very well.”
Guéhi has spoken this week about his development while training with England, in particular working alongside John Stones and Harry Maguire, with whom he is battling for a starting berth.
“I’m fortunate enough to be here and to get selected, so just watching [Maguire and John Stones] every day, the way they train, their qualities and, you know, almost trying to mimic or take things from their game that I can add to my game,” the Palace man said.
“I think that’s what they’ve done [to help me]. They’ve just been themselves, really.”
