Joel Ward believes Marc Guehi is destined to captain Manchester City and England, lauding the centre-back's leadership qualities after their time together at Crystal Palace.
Ward's high praise for Guehi
Ward, who was on the bench when Palace beat City in the 2025 FA Cup final, told the Manchester Evening News at TNT Sports' 'Levels' Trophy Cabinet pop-up in London: "Marc is one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League without a doubt. For this country as well, he's a future captain of this country and of City as well."
Guehi joined City in January after captaining Palace to FA Cup glory. The England international was close to joining Liverpool last summer before the move fell through, allowing City to secure his signature.
Leadership at City
City's captaincy is open after Bernardo Silva, who wore the armband last season, left for Real Madrid. New manager Enzo Maresca is set to decide on the armband ahead of the new season and is also looking to add an English player to his leadership group.
Ward and Guehi were part of a close-knit group of Christian players at Selhurst Park, alongside Ebere Eze and Maxence Lacroix. The former team-mates remain in regular contact about their faith.
Faith and friendship
Ward said: "We had a very unique dressing room in that sense. There were probably more players in the pre-game prayer meeting than were left in the changing room. So that shows the move that was happening and actually shows the move that's been happening across sport and across football, especially in the UK. Obviously, Ebs [Eze], Marc and Maxence Lacroix as well. We all still speak now and have our group and chat things through and even with [former Palace loanee] Trevoh Chalobah as well."
Guehi has previously spoken about his faith and attracted questions from the LGBTQ+ community after writing "I love Jesus" on a rainbow armband, explaining at the time that "the message was just a message of truth and love and inclusivity".
Ward, now a pundit, added: "For me, it's always given you something to hold onto, to unite, to go on the journey with. Ultimately, it's a journey, right? It's your journey individually and collectively but I think there's power in it, certainly from my experience throughout my career. For the lads now as well, there's so much distraction, so much noise going on that it gives you a place to go and be quiet, reflect, find strength and have something bigger than you to hold onto."
