Joe Hart has revealed he hasn’t received a single offer this summer but is confident Manchester City won’t price him out of a move away from the club.
The 29-year-old spent last season on loan with Serie A side Torino after being deemed surplus to requirements by Pep Guardiola last summer and the England international has no future at the club following the arrival of Benfica goalkeeper Ederson earlier this month.
However, Hart, who was to blame for both of Scotland’s goals in England’s 2-2 draw on Saturday, has revealed his future is still up in the air and hinted that City’s valuation may be the reason why no club has stepped forward with any interest.
“Something’s going to happen, one way or another, but it’s almost in the hands of the businessmen now,” The Guardian quote Hart as saying after their World Cup qualifier at the weekend. “They obviously signed the new keeper, and I get the direction [in which they are moving].
“There is no real need for me to talk to them. I’m lucky enough to have management who deal with that side of things. I think they spoke to my agent. There is no animosity between the two teams; they are going about their business, and we are going to go about ours.
“Look, I would love to give you a poker-straight answer as to where I’ll be next season, but I’ve got nothing at the moment. I’d love to be ‘withholding information’ about my future, but I don’t have the information to withhold. People are focused on international duty and respecting that players are focused on international duty.
“Come Tuesday night, after that is when conversations can be had and people can start being real. My personal situation is interesting, and patience is going to have to be the key.”
“I don’t know exactly,” Hart responded when asked whether he knew what City valued him at. “It’s hard to be ‘realistic’. Football is a business, at the end of the day. You can’t judge, realistically. The millions and zillions of pounds that get paid for someone to come and play football for you, in the real world, is strange. In the business world, the football world, it’s not.
“But I certainly don’t think they are going to try and price me out of a move. I think there’s enough respect between the player and club to work together. There’s no point in working against [each other]. There is no animosity between the two. They are going in their direction and I need to go in mine. It’s about what is considered to be market value and what gets agreed between the two clubs.”
Hart was briefly linked with a controversial move to Manchester United when it seemed certain that David de Gea would leave Old Trafford to join Real Madrid this summer, but Zinedine Zidane’s side have reportedly ended their interest in the Spaniard.
Torino have also washed their hands clean of Hart after an unimpressive loan stint last season where only Palermo goalkeeper Josip Posavec (7) committed more errors that directly led to an opposition goal in Serie A than Hart (5).
For more stats on Joe Hart, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
