Wayne Rooney says Marc Guehi showed true colours with response to Liverpool offer

Wayne Rooney has branded Marc Guehi a "fantastic player" and hailed the way the Crystal Palace captain has handled himself amid Liverpool's attempts to sign him. Guehi is in the final year of his contract and Palace need to sell him or they will risk losing him for free next summer.

Liverpool are hoping to agree a deal for Guehi before the transfer window slams shut and submitted an improved £35million bid on Friday. Despite the offer, Guehi started for Palace on Sunday and even scored a stunning long-range strike as they beat Aston Villa 3-0.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Guehi, but Rooney has lavished praise on the England international for continuing to give his all for Palace despite the uncertainty. "I think he's a fantastic player," Rooney said on BBC Match of the Day.

"He's agile, he reads the game really well, he puts his head in, he blocks shots and he's calm on the ball. I think he has got everything you need for a centre-back in today's game.

"There's been a lot of speculation with Guehi over the last few months and he's shown a great level of professionalism to go out there and play for the team.

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"He deserves a lot of credit because we have seen certain players refuse to play. But he deserves great credit for doing the right thing."

Palace manager Oliver Glasner has repeatedly stated that he wants Guehi to stay and reiterated his stance after the win over Villa. "I told the chairman we have to keep Marc if we want to play a successful season," Glasner said.

"We have no chance to find the right replacement in one day. We all agreed that we just sell Marc if we have the right replacement in the building.

"We wanted a replacement by 1 July. It is 31 August and we have no replacement. We have this agreement so it is clear from me. He is such a crucial player. He is one of our key players - he is our captain."

And when quizzed on his future after the game, Guehi said: "All I know is when you score goals like that it is always down to team performance. People will try to single out the goal but that was a clear team performance tonight."

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