De Bruyne, Salah... Guehi? Selling Crystal Palace captain could be Chelsea's latest transfer regret

Marc Guehi was asked ahead of Crystal Palace’s FA Cup semi-final date with Chelsea whether or not he was one of the best defenders in the Premier League.

"I’d say I am extremely far away,” he replied in the pre-match press conference. “I am nowhere near.”

That humble approach to his development is just one reason Chelsea might end up with regrets about selling the centre-back last summer.

"It was the right answer," Palace coach Patrick Vieira said, causing the press room to laugh. "He has the potential. That answer really tells you what kind of person he is.

"Yes, some people say these things but he really means it. You just have to look at him working every day in training by focusing on the details. He wants to be a better player.

"He has a massive chance to succeed because he is really prepared to work hard to improve himself. This is the type of player with huge potential and performing well [that we want to sign].

"The interactions we have from him as staff are positive because he is prepared to do extra after training to try and improve. That makes our job easier."

Even nowadays, many Blues fans struggle to fathom how their club could have sold Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku only for them to go onto become stars of the European game.

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All three took a step back to smaller clubs from the Blues, before going on to huge achievements at other elite clubs.

In the case of De Bruyne and Salah, they never returned to Chelsea, while Lukaku would come back for a club-record £100 million ($136m) fee after winning a Scudetto with Inter.

Like Guehi, those three players all had a humble, hard-working approach. His answer about being miles away from the top was something his manager liked to hear, but he does believe he will get there some day.

The 21-year-old defender is showing signs of superstar trajectory after his move to Selhurst Park for just £18 million ($24m).

He has made more starts than any other player under Vieira (35), helping them to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, where he will face his former club on Sunday.

"It wasn't an easy decision for me to leave Chelsea," Guehi told GOAL on international duty earlier this season having been called up by England for the first time.

"For any young player that is really important, getting game time, that was all that mattered to me,” he said ahead of this weekend's match.

“The decision to leave Chelsea and come to Palace was the right one, to get that game time and show what I can do."

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He has since taken the armband to become the youngest captain in the Premier League and the youngest at his club in a decade.

And with 30 league games under his belt already, Guehi is the third-youngest defender in the top five European leagues to reach that number this season. Those statistics are unmatched by any other young English central defender.

Guehi has shot up Gareth Southgate's pecking order, having graduated from the England's Under-21s, and is now above AC Milan's Fikayo Tomori, another Cobham academy graduate.

It might be easy to overlook the Ivorian-born defender when you are singling out players for praise. He is not aggressive; instead he goes about his duties with a steely determination and class.

You get the sense that he is always in control, using his well-renowned intelligence and speed rather than relying only on his strength to win duels.

He is also an excellent ball-playing defender, capable of starting attacks, and he can chip in with goals from set-pieces too.

Of course, this is not news to those who have been watching him closely at youth level. His pedigree has always been that of a thoroughbred defender.

Honed at both Cobham and St George's Park, he has been with England since the U15s and scored in the final while winning the U17 World Cup with Steve Cooper's England side.

Shortly after, he would win the treble with the U18s at Chelsea in an exceptional season before making his first-team debut under Frank Lampard in 2019.

Having now left the Blues, it looks like a mistake for the club to have lost him so cheaply. Guehi is already worth far more than the sum he was sold for.

Chelsea have a sell-on clause, to earn more from any potential future sale, and have matching rights attached to his contract from 2023. It means should a club bid for Guehi from next season, Chelsea will have the right to match that offer.

Like Lukaku, there is a pathway back for the homegrown star to return, but the Blues might feel a tinge of instant regret, with central defence as their primary problem position for the upcoming transfer market.

Andreas Christesen is set to leave for Barcelona and there is continued uncertainty over the futures of both Antonio Rudiger and Cesar Azpilicueta.

When asked by GOAL, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel gave his view about the sale of Guehi.

“It is a decision we took together and are happy about these decisions," Tuchel said at Cobham. "You cannot go back and reflect at this point.

"When we took the decisions it was the right thing to do given the circumstances. For Marc Guehi, it is a fantastic development. It is impossible now to say if we kept him he would have been better, been worse or been the same.

"Maybe he needed that (to leave). Maybe he needed the change of environment, a different club, a different role, more minutes to develop your full potential.

"It just tells you over and over again that if you trust younger players and have a role for them, they can on a very regular level match expectations and even over perform.

“It’s nice to see so many Chelsea players out there in every league. We are well aware of it. It is nice to play against them and see them develop.”

Whether Tuchel feels the same on Sunday evening remains to be seen.