Joe Hart has opened up on the two-hour conversation he had with Pep Guardiola that signalled the end of his Manchester City career.
Hart spent 12 years at Man City and helped the club win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup across 348 appearances. But his status as City and England’s number one goalkeeper did not prevent him from being phased out when Guardiola became manager.
Guardiola was confirmed as City manager in February 2016, while Manuel Pellegrini was still in charge, before taking over in the summer. The Catalan coach, who had been working with Bayern Munich, arrived with clear ideas about what he wanted from his goalkeeper and, no matter what he said, Hart could not change his mind on a pre-season tour of China following a poor tournament at Euro 2016 for England.
“He was very knowledgeable on my background, very knowledgeable on what we did, how I played football, it was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying ‘I can’t see this working’,” Hart explained on In The Stiffs podcast. “I said ‘I thought that might be the idea, I don’t agree with you’. He said ‘I’ll be the first person to be proved wrong but what I see in you isn’t what I want from my goalkeeper’.
“I was like ‘it’s all very well saying that, but I’ve never been asked to do the kind of things I know you like your goalkeepers to do, so I think it’s only fair I be given the opportunity'. He said ‘of course you’ll be given the opportunity, but…’. As soon as there are any buts at the end you know there’s a decision."
Hart was dropped in favour of new signing Claudio Bravo for the start of the 2016/17 season and left for a season-long loan with Torino in August. After Ederson was signed in the summer of 2017, Hart knew his time was up and spent the following campaign with West Ham before leaving City permanently in 2018 for Burnley.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Did Pep Guardiola make the right call on Joe Hart? Comment below.
“I wanted the opportunity to be coached by one of the best at it," he added of Guardiola. "Of course I didn’t know how to do it, why would I know how to do something that I’d never been asked to do or taught to do? I suppose he was right, I couldn’t do it, he couldn’t just drop me into a team to play like he wanted to at that moment in time.
“I didn’t agree with it, but looking back and even at the time, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I’d love to be here and be a part of it, but if that’s not what you see we need to work out the best way to go.
“I couldn’t say to him ‘are you mad, just watch me go out there and play this exact system’, I didn’t know it, not one of us knew it, but goalkeeper is a very specific position and he was ahead of his time in making it that position, so the fact he knew he couldn’t just drop me into it that was enough for him.
“It was taken away from me, but so what? I’m not bigger than anyone and if that’s my path then that’s my path. The people of Manchester City will forever be in my heart, I’ll forever be grateful for that, but the team, the hierarchy, they’re businessmen."
