01 Jul 2025 11:10:47
As Akira said .
"Liverpool need to recruit a new centre-half with the imminent exit of Quansah and are looking at a number of candidates, " Ornstein explained.
"As reported last week, Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi is a player under consideration, but with just one year remaining on his contract, Liverpool will only firm up their interest if the price is right.
"Nottingham Forest's Murillo is admired but is likely to be too expensive, so sporting director Richard Hughes is looking at other young centre-halves. ".
01 Jul 2025 11:23:58
Murillo has way more to his game than Guehi.
01 Jul 2025 11:58:15
Why0why, Personally I think it's a lot closer than you've made out there.
They actually profile very similarly in terms of appearances and minutes played, height, ability to ping long passes, defensive solidity.
Guehi actually out performs him in a lot of on-the-ball stats, like passing accuracy, shots on target, chances created, goals and assists. These are hugely relevant as either way they'd be coming to a much more possession-based team in Liverpool, and while I do rate Murillo's long passing, I actually think Guehi's is on par if not better.
Then you factor in the following:
- Guehi is half the price
- Guehi is homegrown
- Guehi has better leadership qualities and experience in captaining his team - could easily lead the line when Virg isn't there
- Both play on the left (in Virgil's position) but Murillo is left footed and wants to play on the left, Guehi is right footed and is comfortable playing either side, so he could cover Konate or Virgil
- Guehi has experience at full back and in DM, and could provide emergency cover if needed
Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and it's absolutely fair to prefer Murillo - and I would happily take him. But at the prices quoted, and for their fit in our team, I honestly think Guehi is a smarter choice.
Maybe they bring in Guehi on the right and phase Konate out, and then bring in Murillo as a Virgil replacement in a year or two? Although admittedly I can't see them going from Virgil and Ibou to two sub-6-foot centre halves.
01 Jul 2025 12:12:52
Great post Divock.
01 Jul 2025 12:21:18
Guehi and Murillo would almost certainly be the shortest center back pairing in the premier league.
01 Jul 2025 12:24:04
I think Guehi has average long passing - Murillo has similar to van Dijk.
He scores free kicks.
He scores from set pieces.
His last ditch tackling and goal line clearances are brilliant.
He also excels in a back four, Guehi excels in a back three.
Finances aside I’d much rather have Murillo.
I’d rather have Bastoni than the pair of them.
01 Jul 2025 12:25:47
It's not necessarily who is the better player - it's who is the better fit for us.
01 Jul 2025 12:19:23
Well said Divock and I fully agree. I like both, but with all things considered (especially price) Guehi makes more sense.
{Ed025's Note - look, i know i might be old fashioned but i prefer to watch a player with my own eyes rather than study stats because they can be misleading Hey9, if the hood on your anorak slips over your eyes the results can be misleading, for me Murillo is a far better player than Guehi, its all about opinions i suppose but lets not get bogged down by facts and figures..just use your mince pies mate.. :)
01 Jul 2025 12:49:15
Yep. Eyeball test all day.
Lucas Leiva led the Opta stats for passing when he played for us.
He passed the ball to Carragher for a massive % of those accurate passes. He was decent, his stats said he was better than Alonso.
The eye ball test told a different tale.
{Ed025's Note - yeah mate its like "catchphrase"...just say what you see.. :)
01 Jul 2025 12:49:34
Guehi would be a class signing, think he is an upgrade on what we have or will lose, can never have enough leaders, especially with Trent gone, Robertson nearly in the next year or so, big figures leaving we need big personalities in, Guehi will be class.
01 Jul 2025 13:01:37
I wouldn’t mind Guehi, but I wouldn’t waste time with Crystal Palace. They’re notoriously difficult to deal with when it comes to buying their players. They set very high prices, they hold out and they also have no need to sell. Financially they’re sound.
01 Jul 2025 13:02:53
“Leadership qualities” is an intangible and I’m not arsed if someone has captained their team. For example Harry Kane is the England captain but has the charm and charisma of a weekend in Slough and has absolutely zero leadership qualities. I’m also not arsed by how many chances a central defender creates or the accuracy of their shooting. It’s not their primary function, which let’s not forget, the primary function of a centre back is to stop opponents scoring and to defend. That’s where Guehi falls very short as he’s weak in the air, weak in duels and makes poor decisions at critical moments. Squad member as cover for multiple positions, fine, starting centre back as a replacement for Konate, no thanks he’s not a patch on Konate.
{Ed025's Note - im with you VV..
01 Jul 2025 13:20:01
Palace lining up Diomande as the replacement for Geuhi, I'd have thought we'd be more interested in Diomande than Geuhi.
01 Jul 2025 13:21:36
Yeah, he is not at Konate level. It’s not great shock that Virg got to play 31 games alongside Konate in the league and we had the second best defence, a few goals behind Arsenal who have a more defensive set up and we won it in April.
If Virg and Konate played 38 games, we’d have had the best defence in the league. Ibou is top notch. A perfect foil.
01 Jul 2025 13:25:08
@why oh why
Just to play devils advocate here, one of the strengths you mentioned for Murillo is that he plays in a back 4 whereas guehi plays in a back of 3.
And then underneath you go on to say that your preference would be Bastoni (great player) even though he plays in the back 3 at inter Milan I believe?
01 Jul 2025 13:26:52
Brathwaite was close to a move to the reds last summer or the one before, apparently - he is superior to Guehi by a long shot imo.
{Ed025's Note - yeah its not even close Vango..
01 Jul 2025 13:33:47
Because Bastoni is streets ahead of every defender on the planet bar Virgil and Konate.
He could play in a back one and still be world class.
Murillo and Guehi are like arguing over an M5 and an RS6
Bastoni is an F1 car.
But if he played in a back four he has all the attributes. Quick, great in the air, reads the game, great passing range, threat going forward, good discipline, doesn’t get sent off…. all boxes are ticked bar the fact he’s never played in the Premier League.
{Ed025's Note - i had to stop reading after Konate was described as one of the 2 best defenders on the planet WOW, sorry mate but your credibility has just been shot to pieces..
01 Jul 2025 14:22:02
Who is better? Arguably Saliba. Maybe Rudiger. But top notch CBs are rare. The best defensive pair is Konate/ Virg or Gabriel/ Saliba.
Here are the top five - Virg, Konate, Saliba, Rudiger and Bastoni.
Some may catch up, like Huijsen…. but the list of world class CB’s is short and Konate IS in it when he stays fit.
01 Jul 2025 14:29:15
Konate is a decent defender and is used to our system. He might not be great indiviually, but with VVD gives solidity to the way we play.
He is better than murillo and Guehi in my opinion.
Guehi - majority here are not convinced about Guehi except for the homegrown advantage and potentially cover/ replacement for Quansah.
01 Jul 2025 14:53:08
It’s amazing to me how Liverpool fans devalue their own players despite contrary evidence of continued success that only one club who cheat can compete with.
Since Klopp we’ve won everything we can win.
Yet Trent was average and couldn’t defend.
Konate is okay but being carried.
Robbo is spent.
Tsimi is useless.
Jones is no good.
Jota is terrible and needs to be pastured.
Nunez is rubbish…
We should cash in on Diaz.
Endo is trash…
Quansah is a liability.
Sell Elliott.
Sell Chiesa.
How bad must every other team be for us to do so well. Yet we want all these other teams players immediately…. yet they want ours for some reason.
Lads, Liverpool have somehow got the joint best squad in Europe (with PSG who we lost over two legs on penalties to) and yet 80% of our players are not much good apparently.
I get it, I’m picking a fight, you don’t like it etc. but no one hates Liverpool players more than Liverpool fans it seems.
01 Jul 2025 14:57:57
WhyoWhy
You list Murillio's goal threat, satting he scores free kicks, he scores from set pieces, yet he has only scored 2 goals for Forest, Guehi scored 1 more last season. Just saying, that's not opinion, it's fact.
01 Jul 2025 15:10:47
I think MG would be a smart signing.
But also agree with Why0Why- I'm not sure who could actually win Konate's spot in our team (Saliba maybe? ) . Like no doubt Marquinhos/ Pacho, Gabriel/ Saliba have world class partnerships developed but individually I don't think any of them would improve us, especially since Ibou and VVD cover spaces with our ever wondering fullbacks whereas Gabriel/ Saliba for example are surrounded by 6ft+ hybrids in Calfori, Timber and White playing in fullback areas. Ibou is massive, quick, mobile, covers large about of ground, has very impressive aerial stats (better than the Arsneal pair), has improved on the ball albeit room for improvement.
I always felt Ibous injuris half stemmed from covering some much space left behind by Arnold. In terms of breaking lines and carrying the ball- yes there's a few ahead of Ibou but off the ball, certainly Ibou.
I would not be swapping Ibou for Rudiger, Kim, Araujo, Gabriel, marquinhos, Pacho, Hujisen. Who else is there? I can't really think.
01 Jul 2025 15:13:21
Club and manager seem to be convinced with Guehi and they've probably won more than most posters on here?
01 Jul 2025 15:40:46
If that right it could be bias on my part but I’m sure Murillo had lashed in a free kick last season. He might have scored one in cups.
But to echo someone’s point, it is more about him as a defender that I’m interested in. Neither are exciting to me, neither are players I actually want. I like one more than the other and none as much as Konate, van Dijk or Bastoni.
01 Jul 2025 15:53:31
I really must have been watching a different konate to many here. He isn't fit to lace Hansen or lawrensons boots. I'd take guehi over him and day.
01 Jul 2025 16:02:28
If Murillo came, would he be on free kicks? I don't think so?
Another CB option is Murillo's current partner Milenkovic who to me looks a far better player than Murillo.
Biggest drawback with Murillo is it looks like he's going to struggle with his weight as he gets older - just saying.
01 Jul 2025 16:02:29
Based on absolutely nothing Murillo gives me Maguire vibes. Great in one side but will flop elsewhere. Considering nobody seems to rate guehi, he’s always in the England squad, wanted by top managers.
{Ed025's Note - Jones is also in that England squad Jerry...need i say more?..
01 Jul 2025 16:25:01
I sated his free kicks because someone questioned my claim he offers more than Guehi…. not that he’d be taking free kicks, okay? Is that clear? Are you all caught up?
And to the other poster, you’ve cited the joint best centre back in E glands most successful side as the bench mark…. no, you’re right Konate is not as good as Alan Hansen who won 8 league titles, 3 European cups, two fa cups and four league cups.
Guess what, Guehi isn’t fit to lace his boots either silly.