Passport Control at Gatwick Airport, 2:15 am, Friday, August 29. The Crystal Palace team, exhausted from their journey to Frederikstad, Norway, has just arrived. They secured their spot in the Europa Conference League thanks to a challenging 1-0 aggregate win. Now, all they want is to get some rest.

Within this group is the tired first-team squad of the Eagles, who will soon face another challenge at Villa Park on Sunday for a crucial Premier League match. In such scenarios, it’s often a silent agreement in football that the players get priority to speed through the queue, allowing them to head home swiftly for recovery.

This situation mirrors the familiar scenes in hotel dining areas before away games nationwide. Yet, Marc Guehi, the Palace captain and instrumental figure in Scandinavia as he has been throughout the season, doesn’t follow this unwritten rule.

Though brief, this episode at the airport painted a vivid portrait of how Guehi handles setbacks and why Palace chairman Steve Parish isn’t worried about his leader’s performance moving forward. For Guehi, events unfolding as they do is a matter of divine will. If something transpires, it’s meant to be; if not, it simply isn’t.

Parish had been upfront with the player from the beginning, just as he was last summer when Newcastle United expressed interest. Newcastle was informed that Palace wasn’t selling unless an irresistible offer was made. Parish even set a price: £70 million. The message was clear: ‘Meet this price, and he’s yours. Don’t, and forget about it.’

Nevertheless, a series of emails followed from Newcastle’s then-sporting director, Paul Mitchell, filling Parish’s inbox with various proposals and payment methods. None matched the valuation that Parish had clearly established from 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 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.