FFA CEO David Gallop said at the end of June he understood why the guest rule might be interpreted as the ‘Tim Cahill rule’ before Melbourne City’s capture of the Socceroos star.

While Muscat appreciated the signing by their cross-town rivals, he didn’t necessarily believe it would benefit all the clubs in the A-League.

“I understand why the powers have been brought in this season as we we’ve seen the impact Timmy’s had in a short period of time and the impact he’s going to have. It becomes increasingly difficult to find someone with the all-round or someone who’ll meet all the criteria,” Muscat said.

“The biggest criteria for me is impacting the footballing side of things, is he going to have an impact on our team? Is our football going to be better? Then all the other things flow on, I understand that.

“For someone to fit the criteria as we’re reading. It’s going to cost four to six million or probably more to fit that criteria. Have clubs in Australia have that capacity to spend the money? I don’t think so. I understand, that’s just my perspective looking at the footballing side of things.”

Victory travel to Broadmeadows, Victoria on Wednesday night to take on NPL side Hume City in the Round of 16 FFA Cup.

Victory have vast knowledge after experience of playing Hume in recent friendlies and more notably a 3-0 win in the FFA Cup semi-final last year.

Former Hume striker Jai Ingham was poached by Victory after the match and Muscat said the game was “final piece in the puzzle”. The Victory boss also expressed his admiration for the local club.

“They have great facilities, they’ve done wonders and credit to the management there, it’s excellent,” he said.

“That’s why we go down there every year and play them in a friendly, we have a good grasp of everything happening in the NPL and Jai was one who came across to keep an eye on and then we played them in a friendly.

“He just gave us an option of bringing someone in, bring some competition, he’s started this pre-season off very well, maybe took him a bit of time to adjust, he’s looking forward to going back and he’s grateful for the opportunity they gave.”

Muscat deemed James Troisi as fit to play, but was unsure about whether he would start on Wednesday.

Muscat also said the idea of replicating the success of last year’s FFA Cup was on their minds, however they weren’t looking too far ahead.

“Our mentality is no different to last year, if we’re honest, no different to any other A-League club. It’s a trophy that’s on offer and there’s only three of them, so we want to go out there and win it,” he said.

“Albeit we’re not looking at the finishing line, we understand we have to get through tomorrow night and it’s not going to be an easy encounter. We certainly want to be in the hat come the next round.”