Marc Guéhi’s last 12 months in the FA Cup have been a career loop that would test any defender. He captained Crystal Palace to their first trophy at Wembley last season, then watched the club crash out in a shock 2-1 defeat by Macclesfield on 10 January, and finally moved to Manchester City nine days later.
That sequence now sits beside the latest reminder of how quickly elite football can turn. Guéhi, who joined City for £20m after Pep Guardiola strengthened his squad with one of England’s first-choice centre-backs, was involved in the mistake that helped Everton back into a game City were leading 1-0 after 68 minutes on 4 May. His intended backpass for Gianluigi Donnarumma instead found Thierno Barry, who equalised before Everton completed a 15-minute collapse in a 3-3 draw that left them 3-1 ahead.
For Guéhi, the contrast between triumph and turbulence has been stark. Last season at Wembley, he wore the Palace armband as Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute goal beat Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final and delivered the south London club its first major honour. The scale of that result still frames his own reflection on the run of events that followed. “I feel like my football life is crazy. There’s no consistency to it. It’s very unpredictable. And it’s fun, interesting. I’m glad to be given the opportunity to play in such a prestigious final again. And for this club, I know how much it means to them to win trophies,” he said.
His journey to this point has never been straightforward. Guéhi made two League Cup starts for Chelsea in autumn 2019 against Grimsby and Manchester United, then went out on loan to Swansea in January 2020 and again for the following season before leaving Chelsea for Crystal Palace in July 2021 for £18m. He has said he has nothing but gratitude towards Chelsea, adding: “That’s not my mentality. I completely understand people that have that thought process but I’ve got nothing but gratitude towards Chelsea. Going there from such a young age, I am super grateful to the coaches, and the players I played with. And, to have been given the opportunity to play for the club, a couple of times.”
There was also a more human moment after the Macclesfield loss on 10 January, when Guéhi went to speak to Palace supporters. He later explained that move by saying: “I felt like I owed the fans for their voices to be heard because they’re such a big part of football. In that moment, it was low for them, but that’s just another part of life.”
He said there were messages from supporters that night as well. “I’m not going to share what they were, but yeah, there were a couple,” he said. And in that response, there was a clear sign of the culture Guardiola wanted when City moved to bring him in: “It’s inevitable that someone’s going to make a mistake. So, I think having that togetherness manifesting is really important in any situation – it’s a really good trait of the group. You get to see people’s real characters and relationships when times are most difficult.”
Guéhi was already ineligible for City’s 2-0 Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal because he had played for Palace in the competition, another twist in a career that has moved fast and rarely in a straight line. What happens next for him is less about whether the moments come, and more about how often they arrive in the same breath.
