Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has said he will not lose any sleep over being installed as one of the favourites for the Manchester United job and admitted that captain Marc Guéhi could move to Manchester City this month if the price is right.
The highly-rated Austrian is among the front-runners tipped to take over at Old Trafford as the club’s next permanent boss, following Ruben Amorim’s departure on Monday morning.
Glasner, who guided the Eagles to FA Cup success last season, has yet to agree a contract extension at Selhurst Park, but is not about to concern himself with anything other than the current job at hand.
“In my [Palace] contract, [is] one paragraph, I tell you, [that] I am not allowed to bet, and I don’t look at it [the odds],” the 51-year-old told a news conference on Tuesday. “I cannot also give insider information, because then I am also breaking my contract.
“I am Crystal Palace manager and I just think it makes no sense, and is also wasted time for you to ask me any more questions, so I don’t talk about any other club than Crystal Palace.”
Glasner added: “You can sign a new contract, like managers did in the Premier League this year, and 1767792334 they aren’t the manager there any more. Even if I sign a new contract, you could ask me every day, ‘What is the future?’
“There is one situation which keeps you in your job when you are a manager — and this is being successful. It is the only thing to survive [in] this job.”
Marc Guéhi could be Manchester City-bound
The Austrian coach also conceded that captain Guehi could move to Manchester City this month if Palace’s valuation of the player is met.
The England defender is out of contract at the end of the season and came close to a move to Liverpool last summer before Palace pulled out of the deal on deadline day.
Pep Guardiola’s team are short of centre-backs after both Rúben Dias and Josko Gvardiol picked up injuries during last weekend’s draw with Chelsea.
The City boss said on Tuesday that Dias is set to miss up to six weeks with a hamstring injury, while Gvardiol will undergo surgery on a broken shin bone this week.
City’s defensive crisis has raised the possibility that City could look to sign Guéhi in January.
“If a player feels too good for a club, it is better to sell him, and if a player is not good enough for a club, you also have to sell him,” Glasner said. “To get the best out of your squad, it must be a match.”
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Asked whether Guéhi and City could be a “match” in January, Glasner replied: “It could be. I’m not so naive as not to know that if a massive offer comes from City and Marc wants to do it, it will happen.”
“Nothing in life is one-dimensional,” Glasner said. “Let’s say you have a nice car but you need money because it’s cold and a window [at home] is broken, and somebody offers you crazy money for your car. You say, ‘No, I don’t want to sell my car. I love my car. But I don’t want to freeze.’ Then you say, ‘If I can get the window and even a new roof, you can have the car. But I would like to keep it.’
“It’s the same with Marc. Everybody wants him to play for Crystal Palace, sign a new contract and stay here for ever.
“On the other side, the contract ends this summer and if somebody is coming and you are freezing, there will be a moment when the club says, ‘Now the financial issue is more important than the sporting issue and we have to do it.
“There will be a threshold where if Marc says he wants to leave and the money is above the threshold, it will happen.”
Palace host Aston Villa on Wednesday night looking for a first win in five league games.
Nathaniel Clyne misses out with minor abductor injury picked up in Sunday’s defeat at Newcastle. Jefferson Lerma is also unavailable because of the concussion protocol, but defender Chris Richards should return to the squad.
Information from PA contributed to this story.
