Marc Guehi goes into Manchester City's run-in with a rare piece of FA Cup history within reach. He says his “football life is just crazy”, and the season has backed that up: he was hours away from signing for Liverpool in the final days of the summer window before the deal collapsed, then was forced to watch City’s Carabao Cup final from the sidelines because he was ineligible. Now he could become the first player in history to win the FA Cup with two different teams.
How Guehi ended up in this position
The oddity starts with the numbers. Guehi has already played twice in the FA Cup for City this season, after making one FA Cup appearance for Crystal Palace. That is what creates the history angle, and it is a properly unusual one. Only three players have won the FA Cup in successive years with two different teams, but no one has done it in the exact way Guehi could now do it.
His own description of the move to City fits the story. “I feel like my football life is just crazy. There's no, how can I say, consistency to it. It's just very unpredictable,” he told manchestereveningnews.co.uk. That is hard to argue with when a collapsed Liverpool move, a forced cup final absence and a potential FA Cup first all sit in the same season.
Why the Carabao Cup setback matters
Guehi has not just been a passenger at City. He featured three times in the League Cup, and his 7.63 rating in that competition suggests he was doing more than just filling a shirt before the final slipped away from him because of eligibility. He also said watching from the sidelines helped him understand what City need to keep winning, calling it “great” to see the mentality up close and saying it taught him “what it takes to go on and on those trophies and in those moments.”
That view is probably the sharpest part of the story. The history chase is the headline, but the Carabao Cup run shows why City have taken to him so quickly. Pep Guardiola’s side are not short of players who want the ball. They are short of players who can absorb the setbacks and still look comfortable when the next trophy chance comes round.
If City win the FA Cup, Guehi’s season will end with a first no one else has managed. If they do not, the strange route there is still the same: a collapsed Liverpool move, a missed final, and two clubs already on his FA Cup record.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
