Eddie Howe has expressed his frustration over the rule change that allows Manchester City's £62.5million signing, Antoine Semenyo, to play against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final. The 26-year-old Ghanaian international, who transferred from Bournemouth to City last week, is eligible to face the Magpies in Tuesday night's first leg at St James' Park, despite having already appeared as a substitute in Bournemouth's 2-0 second round loss to Brentford in August.
Semenyo, who netted a goal on his debut during Saturday's 10-1 FA Cup thrashing of Exeter, can do so under the newly implemented EFL rule 6.4, which permits a player to represent up to two clubs in the competition within a season. When asked about the rule change, Newcastle's head coach Howe responded with a wry smile: "Yeah, it was nice to find out that rule had changed after finding out they'd signed him.
"I have to say that's one rule change I probably wouldn't be supportive of at this current moment.
"But Antoine's had an incredible season. I'm a big admirer of his and he scored on his debut, so fair play to him. I think Man City have signed a very, very good player."
Regardless of the team Pep Guardiola fields in Tyneside, Howe recognises the difficulty of retaining the trophy Newcastle won last season against Liverpool, ending their 70-year wait for domestic silverware.
However, he insists he cannot allow himself to feel inferior as he faces off against the Spanish manager and his star-studded squad.
Guardiola's illustrious managerial journey started at Barcelona and took him to Bayern Munich before landing at the Etihad Stadium, whilst Howe, who will be without full-back Tino Livramento as he undergoes a scan on his damaged hamstring, honed his craft in League Two with Bournemouth, ultimately guiding the club to the Premier League through sheer graft.
When questioned whether he ever paused to reflect on that remarkable path, Howe, who has already bested both Guardiola and Jose Mourinho this season, admitted: "Very rarely, if I'm honest.
"Occasionally someone might send me something that reminds me. It feels like a long time ago, to be honest, where we started.
"But I've said so many times, I wouldn't change that at all. The grounding we had, the education we had in the lower leagues was incredible, really, and going through the leagues has given us a unique insight into the football pyramid.
"We really learned the hard way in terms of successes and failures and eventually, through I think hard work and dedication, we've ended up where we are now.
"But then you can't look at yourself as inferior, you can't think of your journey, you just have to think of the here and now and you have to think of trying to win.
"That's all we are trying to do on a daily basis, trying to come out on the right side of things. But our education, I think, has been invaluable to us."