Passport Control, Gatwick Airport, 2.15am, Friday, August 29. Crystal Palace’s bleary-eyed delegation has just touched down from their trek to Frederikstad, in Norway, where their ticket to the Europa Conference League was stamped after a gruelling 1-0 aggregate victory. Now, they just want to go to bed. 

Among the group is the Eagles weary first-team squad, who will be in action again on Sunday when they head to Villa Park for a big Premier League fixture. Often in these cases the unwritten rule in football – players’ first – kicks in, and the squad heads to the front of the queue to ensure they are the first home as they seek to maximise recovery time.

It is a similar scene to that which unfolds in hotel canteens on the night before away matches up and down the country. However, Marc Guehi, the Palace captain who had played a key role in Scandanivia (as he had in each game this season) is having none of it. 

While it may have only been a moment in time, a tiny snapshot, the airport episode revealed a clear picture of how Guehi will respond to his setback – and why Palace chairman Steve Parish will lose little sleep over the performance levels of his leader in the months to come. For Guehi, if something happens then it is in God’s will. If it does not, then it is not. 

Marc Guehi seemed destined for a move to Liverpool until Crystal Palace pulled the plug at the eleventh hour

The Eagles agreed a £35million fee with Liverpool and Guehi had even undergone his medical

Parish had been straight with the player from the outset, as he had last summer when Newcastle United had come calling. The Geordies were told that Palace did not want to sell unless they were made an offer they could not refuse. Parish even quoted a price: £70m. The message was simple: ‘Pay that and he’s yours. If you don’t, then leave me alone.’

Regardless, a flurry of emails followed from Newcastle’s then-sporting director Paul Mitchell, dropped into Parish’s inbox, suggesting a variety of proposals and payment plans. None of them met the valuation Parish had outlined at the start.

Guehi, with two years left on his contract, stayed put. Twelve months later, with no new deal signed, the stakes were increased. Parish knew that Palace should keep Guehi, then the likelihood was that a player he had quoted £70m for, who now had another impressive season under his belt, would leave for free a year down the line. He also knew that his ambitious, impressive manager Oliver Glasner, would want to see his squad strengthened rather than weakened with the prospect of the club’s first season in Europe on the horizon. That in itself, however, was the difficulty. 

Palace went into the summer not knowing which competition they would be participating in, after appealing UEFA’s decision to demote them from the Europa League to the Conference. 

A key element of talks with transfer targets often centres around which competition they will be playing in should they sign on the dotted line. Parish could not offer a definitive answer, which proved unhelpful in negotiations with certain players. 

That situation, eventually resolved when the appeal was turned down on August 11, had impacted heavily upon their early attempts to find a replacement for Guehi. Glasner had made it clear he would need two additions at centre-half. One ‘drag and drop’, a player with Premier League experience who could go straight into the team and another, younger prospect to nurture and develop – as is the Palace way. 

They found the latter, in the shape of highly-rated France Under 20 Jaydee Canvot, who arrived on deadline day in a £20m deal from Toulouse. They thought they had found the former, with Brazil defender Igor Julio lined up for a season-long loan switch from rivals Brighton.  Julio fit the bill, He had 37 Premier League appearances under his belt but appeared surplus to requirements at the Amex, making just one Carabao Cup start this term. 

The news was communicated to Liverpool and, after a £35m bid was accepted in the afternoon, Guehi headed to London to complete a medical, while a farewell video, subsequently leaked online, was put together. Such was the confidence that a move which seemed to suit all parties would go through.  

Guehi scored a stunner at Villa Park on Sunday in what many thought was his last appearance for Palace

Oliver Glasner had maintained throughout the window that he didn’t want his skipper sold without a replacement

Eagles chairman Steve Parish ultimately called the deal off at 7.30pm after Igor Julio chose West Ham

Guehi agreed personal terms and a deal sheet was submitted to the Premier League. But then came a blow from the Hammers. Graham Potter, whom Julio had worked under at Brighton, made his move. The player’s head was turned. The suspicion at Palace was that more favourable terms from West Ham may have also played their part. Regardless, Julio all of a sudden became a non-starter. 

While Glasner, contrary to some reports, did not threaten to resign, his words after Sunday’s 3-0 win at Villa – in which Guehi had scored a stunning piledriver – may have returned to the forefront of Parish’s thoughts. Glasner had said he did not want to lose Guehi without a reinforcement in the building. For good measure, he described his captain as ‘necessary’ to Palace’s hopes of a successful campaign. At 7.30pm, and with no reinforcement in sight, Parish pulled the plug. 

Guehi had behaved with dignity and loyalty throughout. His stance was the opposite to that taken by Alexander Isak, but the Swede will pull on the famous red jersey of Liverpool and the Englishman will not. Parish will have no concerns over a dummy spit or a drop-off in performance.

Not that the situation will not be a test of Guehi’s patience.

Daily Mail Sport understands that the player had to be pulled out of a scan to be told that the deal was off.

The irony of him continuing to behave like a professional, while others such as Isak have ended up with their move, is not thought to be lost. Guehi was all smiles when he appeared for England duty, but the missed opportunity to play Champions League football and compete for trophies at the highest level will play on his mind. This is a World Cup year and it is highly unlikely he will refuse to play for a club he still loves, though there is known to be serious frustration over how the matter has been handled.

But Guehi will know that he can effectively speak to clubs in Europe from January 1. Given there will be no transfer fee involved, unless he signs a new contract, he should have his pick of Champions League qualifiers. He should, too, comfortably more than double his existing deal, in a situation now that may have some similarities with that of Trent Alexander-Arnold.  A weekly salary of £250,000 should not be unachievable. 

Time is also on his side. In a year’s time he will still only be 25, with the prospect of his best years ahead of him. It would have been a tough call for Parish, but in reality it was the only call. This is, comfortably, the best Crystal Palace team in the club’s history and arguably one of its best managers. This was a £35m gamble, and one Parish will feel was worth taking.