Manchester City's preparations for the Carabao Cup final have been rocked by a major injury blow to defensive linchpin Ruben Dias. The Portugal international is set to miss the Wembley showdown against Arsenal, leaving Pep Guardiola with a significant selection headache in the heart of his backline hours before the match.
Manchester City will be without key January signing Marc Guehi for their Carabao Cup final showdown against Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday. Despite other winter arrivals being eligible, the England international has been sidelined by a new rule. Pep Guardiola has been left exasperated after the former Crystal Palace defender was officially ruled out.
Pep Guardiola has claimed that he is not a "big, big fan" of the January transfer window, but Manchester City's recent winter business suggests otherwise. City have signed six players in the last two January windows, spending a total of £264 million ($353m) in the process. But whereas last year's purchases smacked of desperation, the recent acquisitions of Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo are looking like masterstrokes.
Former England star Stuart Pearce has named his "first name on the teamsheet" for this summer's World Cup, and has snubbed both Declan Rice and Harry Kane. The Arsenal and Bayern Munich stars are almost certain to be heavily involved in the Three Lions' bid to end 60 years of hurt, but Pearce has instead picked a Manchester City star as the most important in the squad.
Manchester City defender Marc Guehi admits he was left baffled by the hostile reception he received from Liverpool fans during Sunday’s dramatic win at Anfield. The England star played a key role in ending City’s 23-year wait for a win in front of the Kop but was jeered throughout, a reaction he claims to not understand despite rejecting a move to Merseyside in favour of the champions last summer.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot was left raging at a “clear” red card for Manchester City defender Marc Guehi after seeing the Reds suffer a dramatic defeat to Pep Guardiola’s side at Anfield. Dominik Szoboszlai was dismissed during a chaotic end to that contest, but Slot is of the opinion that City should have been reduced to 10 men when Mohamed Salah was denied a “100 out of 100 scoring ball”.
Marc Guehi has no regrets over his collapsed move to Liverpool in the summer, insisting it was ‘God’s Plan’ that he ended up at Manchester City. The former Crystal Palace defender and captain joined Pep Guardiola’s team in January for around £20 million and has slotted straight into the starting line-up as he hunts a first Premier League title of his career.
Arsenal have been handed a major boost ahead of the 2026 Carabao Cup final, with the EFL delivering its verdict on Manchester City’s claims to seeing rules tweaked for January signing Marc Guehi. The Blues are being prevented from selecting the England international defender in domestic cup competition, and that will remain the case for a showpiece event at Wembley Stadium.
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City will formally write to the football authorities to demand Marc Guehi be deemed eligible for the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal. The City manager expressed his bewilderment after his £20 million January signing was forced to watch from the stands as his teammates dismantled Newcastle on Wednesday, insisting that the regulations preventing the defender from playing defy logic given the club pays his wages.
The January transfer window offered admittedly few high profile moves, but there were certainly some significant deals that will have an impact this year and for those to come.
The 2026 winter window closed on Monday, with Jorgen Strand Larsen's $66 million move from Wolves to Crystal Palace the biggest deal done on deadline day. Truth be told, though, it was a pretty tame end to what's been a fairly quiet month in the transfer market. Indeed, aside from Manchester City, most of Europe's top teams did next-to-no mid-season business, while there was very little movement at all in France, Germany or Spain - which wasn't that surprising, given January is traditionally a tough time to find good value for money.
Famously, the January transfer window is the more difficult of the two to operate in. It's hard to persuade other clubs to give up assets mid-season, sometimes even harder to convince players that they're better off making a move immediately rather than waiting until the following summer. But that doesn't mean deals are impossible, or that you can't get good value for your buck.
January is a notoriously bad time for buyers because nobody ever wants to sell top talent midway through the season. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. Some clubs need to raise funds to balance the books, while others can be left with not option but to unload an unhappy player who has made it clear that he wants to join a stronger side.
Marc Guehi may have felt disrespected by the failed transfer to Liverpool in the summer window and "probably" won't regret moving to Manchester City in January instead, according to former Germany international Didi Hamann. The England defender saw a switch from Crystal Palace to Anfield break down at the last minute and instead moved to the Etihad Stadium earlier this month for a reported £20 million.
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner says he is "100% committed" to the club until the end of the season despite launching a scathing attack on the Eagles' hierarchy. The Austrian announced this campaign would be his last earlier this month, before expressing his disdain at the decision to sell captain Marc Guehi to Manchester City. Now, however, it seems he has held positive talks with chairman Steve Parish.
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes has a very cold, analytical approach to his role - so much so, in fact, that he was once described as "robot" by an agent who had dealt with him. Of course, being devoid of emotion probably wouldn't be such a bad thing for Hughes, given the nature of his job and the potential for being adversely affected by the wildly differing views on the work he's doing at Anfield.
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