SharePoint Online Admins don't get the option to create sites from Start page ?

I have a requirement of disabling the normal users' ability to create sites in SharePoint online. Followed Microsoft official guide on this and unchecked the option as below. 

Reference - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepoint/manage-site-creation?WT.mc_id=365AdminCSH_spo 

The problem is, this checkbox also takes off SharePoint Admin's ability to create sites from the start page (Admin page is fine) which is not ideal. Once checked off, anyone with "SharePoint Administrator" role assigned in Entra ID won't be able to create sites. 

SharePoint Admin Role Assigned: 

Behaviour: Create site option is gone. 

Knowing the role assignment can take up to an hour, I waited for extra long 24 hours only to find no luck. 

Is this expected (given that Admins can leverage Admin tooling to provision sites) or has anyone got ideas on what could potentially cause this? Appreciate any thoughts. 

Cheers!

Manoj