Video: If you actually watch the Steve Parish interview it gives off a different vibe to reading the quotes

Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish has put the cat amongst the pigeons today after speaking to Sky Sports about the proposed Marc Guehi transfer to Newcastle United.

We all know how much Newcastle United prefer to do their transfer business away from the public eye, so the fact that this transfer is dragging on in the media the way it is will already be a cause for concern for the Newcastle hierarchy.

Now that Palace co-owner has not only come out and publicly spoken about the deal, he's done so in a way that heavily suggested that he's trying to squeeze Newcastle for more money. Again, how Newcastle will react to that remains to be seen, but we have seen many times how the club don't like to be made fools of.

While the divisive comments from Parish look bad on paper - reading the quotes posted on X by Keith Downie makes it seem like Parish is really trying to blow the deal, when you actually watch the interview via Sky Sports News, there's a certain unease with which Parish is speaking that hints that he's a man who knows the fate of one of his better players but isn't quite ready to admit it.

"Superstar" was a term fed to Steve Parish, not one of his own

The clip on X cuts off the part where the interviewer refers to Marc Guehi as a "superstar", so when Steve Parish says "If you want a superstar player you need to pay superstar money", he's just using the phrase that was fed to him to make his point. Although "generational talent" was all his own work.

The parts about not having to make a decision yet and saying someone would have to make it difficult for them to say no to a deal are clearly a tactic designed to either spark a bidding war or nudge Newcastle's bid higher - chances are it won't work and will Palace really forego a £60 million payday for the sake of an extra £5 million? Probably not.

However, what came next was the real talking point. The quotes that Keith Downie didn't post.

Steve Parish didn't seem too convincing when asked directly if Guehi wanted the Newcastle move

Parish was asked if he'd spoken to Marc Guehi about the move and whether he wants permission to speak to Newcastle and this is where he starts to get a bit flustered and starts off by trying to avoid the question entirely.

"Mark is as decent a human being and footballer as you could ever hope to meet. We all know the situation, we don't need to be having discussions about it Marc is absolutely loyal to Crystal Palace. Marc wants to progress his career, of course he does. and if the right opportunity is there and it's right for us then I think it's something that he might be interested in, but he's certainly not putting any pressure on the club whatsoever."

Marc is loyal to Crystal Palace. Marc wants to progress his career. Which is it, Steve?

In all seriousness, having watched the interview I'm not as pessimistic as I was when I first saw the quotes. I think there are a lot of if statements in what Parish has said, and the parts that sound like Palace have rejected the bid are purely a tactic to try and get more money that I don't think will work.

We'll see how it plays out, I guess, but if Newcastle fail to bring in Guehi now, there are going to be a lot of angry Geordies who have had to endure a difficult summer already and saw the Guehi deal as the light at the end of the tunnel. Taking that away will crush a lot of hope and there's not a lot of time for the club to do damage limitation.