Monday,
June 12, 2017 - 10:47 am
England goalkeeper Joe Hart
says he has not yet had any offers as he prepares for a future away from
Manchester City.
His popularity at the Etihad Stadium counted for
little when Pep Guardiola arrived last year and Hart was instead sent on loan
to Italian side Torino.
Hart has returned from Serie A but does not
foresee a change in his situation with City, who have spent £35m on uncapped
Brazil goalkeeper Ederson after Claudio Bravo's unconvincing first campaign.
The 30-year-old Hart is trying
not to think about his club future as England prepare to end their season with
a friendly against France, but he admitted his career is "almost in the
hands of the businessmen now" as he remains patient during this "game
of chess".
"I would love to give you a
poker-straight answer, but I've got nothing at the moment because I think
people are focused on international duty and respecting that players are
focusing on international duty," Hart said.
"Come Tuesday night, I don't
know how everyone else finishes, after that is when conversations can be had
and people can start being real.
"I need an offer first and
then I need to work out my options if I have choices. I want to be playing at
the highest possible level, pushing myself.
"It's a short career. I want
to push everything out of me. Physically I feel in great condition and I want
to go again."
West Ham are the latest club to
be linked with Hart, who admits he does not know what price City will want for
him.
"It's hard to say (the fee
City set is) realistic because football is a business at the end of the day and
you can't judge, it's hard to 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, but in the business world, the football world it's
normal.
"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.
"We're going to work
together, there's no point in working against. There's no animosity between the
two. They are going in their direction and I need to go in mine.
"It's my life, it's me, it's
my 'normal'. I am no robot, sometimes I do have thoughts about it. There is
nothing to get down about. It's just another exciting adventure, another move,
the next step in my career, next chapter, next challenge for me personally.
"I love personal challenges
and I have never shied away from one and I don't intend to. If the switch is
what needs to happen, and that's key, we all need stability in our life.
"I'm not a kid any more, I
can't just pack my stuff like a 19, 17-year-old and go on loan. I am a
30-year-old man with stuff I need to organise. I like stability.
"There is an ideal situation
to come out of this but nothing is perfect. It's a short career and football is
crazy so I have to be prepared for anything."
Hart's England place is also
coming under scrutiny, after Scotland's Leigh Griffiths beat him with two
free-kicks in Saturday's 2-2 World Cup qualifier.
Hart felt the England wall could
have done him a favour if they had jumped for the first free-kick.
"It might have helped but
'coulda, shoulda, woulda'," Hart said.
"I asked my wall to jump but
not excessively because people are clever now and they go underneath.
"But I've seen it again and
we would have needed four or five Peter Crouches in that wall to make a
difference and that's not what we had."
Hart says his analysis switches
to the set-pieces of Dimitri Payet and Paul Pogba, but Gareth Southgate intends
to give Jack Butland, Fraser Forster or Tom Heaton a start against France.
Such talent, along with England
Under-21 goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, makes the 71-cap goalkeeper appreciate
every England appearance.
"I've got to respect this
career, this shirt's not mine," Hart added. "It's not nailed-on mine,
it's no one's and we've got high quality and I have to be playing football at
the top level, to the maximum of my ability to even get in the squad at the
moment.
"That's the plan but the
goalkeeping world is a strange world and patience is probably going to have to
be key at the moment."
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