In his recent sleepless nights, England’s number one goalkeeper Joe Hart must wonder how he has gone from first choice throughout his career at Manchester City to suddenly the team’s number three once Claudio Bravo finalizes his move to City this week.
Hart has fought hard to earn his reputation. He was a top performer when he played for League Two club Shrewsbury Town, earning a dream move to the Premier League with Manchester City in 2006. He then spent the next three years on loan building his stocks and gaining valuable experience along the way.
When Middle East money came in the form of a new owner 2008, manager Roberto Mancini found out he didn’t need to invest in the goalkeeping position because Hart, on loan to Birmingham City, was ready to return home. Mancini described him at the time as a “very good goalkeeper, with very high physical and technical abilities.” Hart earned his shot ahead of the experienced Shay Given and never looked back.
Since then Hart has won two Premier League titles with two different managers, an FA Cup and two Football League Cups to establish his legendary position at the club.
However, the arrival of new manager Pep Guardiola has caused concern from the outset. Not only was Hart’s Euro 2016 experience disastrous, but his performance over the last two seasons has been unstable to say the least. Guardiola dropped some hints on Hart’s future even before he arrived, considering poaching Marc-André ter Stegen from his former club Barcelona. But even with all the rumors flying around this summer, the English media didn’t actually believe Guardiola would drop Hart due to the keeper’s iconic standing.
Instead, Guardiola showed he is more than capable of dropping anyone at any time, just as he has previously with the likes of legendary players Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto’o. He explained that he needed goalkeepers who are able to “build up the play from the back” with Hart’s stats in passing and ball distribution well below the top European goalkeepers. In season 2015/16, Joe Hart produced a 52.6 percent passing accuracy from 35 league appearance, while incoming goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was at 84.2 percent! Even Willy Caballero, the man who was the understudy to Hart last season, enjoyed a 59.4 percent passing accuracy from his seven appearances for City.
For a man who has done such a good job for the club in the last six seasons, we can’t help but feel sympathy for Hart. He now has just one week to find him a new club if he hopes to enjoy some playing time this season and therefore retain his role in the national team.
