Why Manchester City must offload Joe Hart this summer

Manchester City were by far the best English team last year as they clinched the Premier League title in styke. The Cityzens became the first club to amass a total of 100 points in a 38-game season, breaking numerous records on their journey.

Pep Guardiola surpassed expectations and has surely established himself as one of the best managers of all time. It took him just two seasons to take down records that were made a number of years ago.

Now, he must aim to make a build a strong title defence next season in an attempt to become the first manager to win the title consecutively since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. The club are reportedly on the verge of signing Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez and Napoli midfielder Jorginho for a combined fee of around £108.5 million.

But enough about the players coming in. Guardiola has a big decision to make about goalkeeper Joe Hart, who will return to training with the club after a loan spell with West Ham last season. Rewind two years back, and Hart was one of the best shot-stoppers in the world. He was England’s first-choice keeper as well as City’s main man between the sticks.

But things have only gone downhill for the 31-year-old since then. A disastrous Euro performance saw the goalkeeper lose his form, which in turn saw Guardiola sign Claudio Bravo to replace the West Ham loanee.

Bravo didn’t live up to the expectations and Guardiola eventually signed Ederson last year to take his place. The Brazilian has proven to be a stalwart and there’s no way either Bravo or Hart could start ahead of him next season.

To make matters worse, Hart didn’t enjoy the best of campaigns with the Hammers last season. He was mostly in and out of the squad with fellow teammate Adrian often replacing him in the goal. When you are a Premier League goalkeeper and are rotated on a regular basis, it only means you’re not good enough.

Hart made a total of 19 appearances last season, keeping just 4 clean sheets in that time. The Manchester City goalkeeper was only able to record a total of 53 saves in the league, although he did save a crucial penalty for the Hammers. The goalkeeper could successfully punch away merely 42% of the balls that came his way. Hart certainly doesn’t seem like the goalkeeper he once used to be.

The goalkeeper’s loan spells with Torino and West Ham haven’t helped him rediscover his lost form. It’s obvious that Hart won’t star in the goal for Manchester City as long as Ederson and Bravo are at the club.

Hence, it would be feasible for the player and the club to part ways. Hart is still a talented goalkeeper who could certainly attract interest from a number of other clubs. It would be best for the veteran to leave the club on a high and search for pastures anew.