Manchester City will not be permitted to register central defender Marc Guehi for the Carabao Cup final despite Pep Guardiola’s protestations.
A dumbfounded Guardiola had claimed that being able to pick the £20million signing from Crystal Palace for next month’s Wembley showpiece was logical and that City would write to ask for special dispensation.
But the EFL are understood to be resistant to that after altering the rules that had been reworked last summer.
Players can now feature for two clubs in the same season if they switch teams ahead of the semi-final first leg.
That allowed Antoine Semenyo to feature in both of City’s legs with Newcastle United and the forward is available for Arsenal.
But given Guehi arrived at the Etihad Stadium after the first leg at St James’ Park, he cannot be included in Guardiola’s squad.
‘Hopefully we can convince them, sometimes it’s difficult to understand,’ Guardiola said on Wednesday night.
‘We will play a lot (of finals) He is so young. He came to a team that will play in the next years a lot of finals. No doubt about that.’
