If the Marc Guehi situation related to Arsenal, their fans would've been sending petitions for the British government to get involved. And understandably so, the decision is one of the stupidest we've seen in football for a long time.

In the latest bit of joined-up thinking from football's bigwigs, Guehi, who joined Manchester City in January, is ineligible for Sunday's Carabao Cup final. Meanwhile, Antoine Semenyo, who also joined City in January, can play.

Because that obviously makes sense, right?

The official reason for the discrepancy is that Semenyo was signed and registered with City before the first leg of the semi-final against Newcastle. Guehi joined after and therefore couldn't feature in the second leg of the semi-final, which, admittedly, makes plenty of sense.

But why then can Guehi not play in the final, given it's a different stage of the competition and he was registered before it took place? Or failing that, why not just make it a blanket ban on all new signings altogether?

This, of course, used to be the case for those who were already cup-tied in the competition, but those rules were ditched, allowing players to feature for two teams in a single season. Guehi, who joined City for £20million in January, has been able to feature in the club's FA Cup campaign, despite being part of the Crystal Palace team that was knocked out by non-League Macclesfield earlier this year.

Guardiola had lamented the decision shortly after Guehi's arrival, claiming City would reach out to the decision makers and ask for a change. Speaking in February, the Catalan coach said: "Hopefully in March, we can arrive with the players fit and hopefully you can convince the Carabao Cup that Marc Guehi can play in the final

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page

"Because it's difficult to understand that the club who make a big investment to pay one player who belongs to us and I don't understand why he cannot play the final.

"So, hopefully we write a letter, and hopefully the Carabao Cup can understand. He's not able to play for a rule that I don't understand why. Hopefully, they can change it."

The request fell on deaf ears and Guehi will be forced to watch from the stands when City play Arsenal.