The inexorable rise of Marc Guéhi, England’s invisible man

The diligent, understated Crystal Palace defender wants to do his job without being seen and has had a steady rise to the top

Marc Guéhi craves invisibility on the pitch. Which might sound weird given the showiness of the professional world he inhabits, the presumed need to be seen to be doing heroic things as often as possible. Yet the more the England and Crystal Palace centre-half talks, the more it makes sense and the more it chimes with who he is and where he has come from: his steady and inexorable rise. Not to mention where he intends to go.

“I think Paolo Maldini said something like: ‘If you have to make a tackle, you weren’t in the right position in the first place’,” Guéhi says, during a break in preparations for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia. “If a defender can go in a game and seem to be absolutely nothing then he is doing absolutely everything right. Obviously there are times when you might have to make a last-minute tackle because of whatever is happening but if I can avoid being seen in a game, as crazy as it sounds, I am doing my job.

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from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/15/the-inexorable-rise-of-marc-guehi-englands-invisible-man