Manchester City’s hopes of fielding their January signing Marc Guehi in next month’s Carabao Cup final have been firmly rejected after the English Football League refused to overturn its eligibility rules.
The decision ends weeks of lobbying from the Sky Blues and leaves Pep Guardiola facing the Wembley showdown with Arsenal without one of his top defensive recruits.
City believed there was scope for flexibility after regulations were amended earlier this season to allow players to represent two clubs in the same competition during a single campaign.
That change enabled winger Antoine Semenyo, who joined from Bournemouth, to appear for both his former side and City in the semi-final victory over Newcastle United.
Guardiola argued the same principle should apply to Guehi following his £30m arrival from Crystal Palace.
Yet the governing body has stood by the letter of the law, insisting the centre-back cannot take part because he was not registered for the first leg of the semi-final.
The ruling leaves City short of options at the back and hands Arsenal a psychological boost ahead of what promises to be a tense encounter on March 22.
Officials at the Etihad had submitted a formal request for special dispensation, claiming the spirit of the updated rules was to give clubs greater freedom to use new signings.
However, the EFL confirmed there would be no exception, stating that altering the regulation for one individual would create an unfair precedent.
The verdict has been described by figures inside City as deeply frustrating, particularly given the club’s ongoing injury crisis.
Ruben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol have all spent lengthy periods on the sidelines, forcing Guardiola to shuffle his defensive pack in recent weeks.
Guehi was recruited specifically to provide stability during the decisive months of the season.
City reached the Carabao Cup final in emphatic fashion, brushing aside Newcastle 5-1 on aggregate, and Guardiola immediately turned his attention to securing his new defender’s involvement.
The manager believed common sense would prevail, especially after the precedent set with Semenyo earlier in the competition.
The Mirror reports that senior figures at City are disappointed but have accepted there is little room for further challenge.
Attention will now switch to getting injured players fit in time for Wembley and ensuring the squad is prepared for a demanding run of fixtures either side of the final.
Guardiola questions “logic” behind the rule
Guardiola has never hidden his confusion over the situation and spoke candidly after the semi-final success about his belief that the rules defy common sense.
He insists that once a player is purchased and registered during an open transfer window, there should be no barrier to selection.
“Hopefully we can convince the Carabao Cup that Marc can play the final,” the City manager said.
“I don’t understand why he cannot play the final. You buy a player for a lot of money and he is not able to play for a rule I don’t understand. Hopefully they can change it.
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“Antoine arrived before the first [game] so could play. And now it’s the final. Why should he [Guehi] not play? Why not? We pay his salary, he is our player. I said to the club, they have to ask, definitely.
“I don’t understand the reason why he cannot play in the final in March, when I have been here for a long time.
“The rules to buy a player depends on FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League who say, ‘okay, the transfer window is open, when you buy a player you have to play’, no?
“It’s logic. Of course we are going to try to ask [for] him to play. Pure logic.”
Those remarks underline the strength of feeling within the City camp. Guardiola views the Carabao Cup as an important part of the club’s identity, having lifted the trophy on multiple occasions since arriving in England.
Missing a key defender for the Carabao Cup final is therefore more than a minor inconvenience.
