Hart makes £4m switch to Burnley
JOE HART was having a medical at Burnley last night as the goalkeeper prepares to bring an end to his 12-year stay at Manchester City.
The England international has spent the last two years on loan at Torino and West Ham and went into pre-season worrying for his career after Gareth Southgate dropped him from the World Cup squad.
Burnley have now offered the 31-year-old an opportunity to continue at the highest level, with the transfer worth around £4million. Sportsmail understands Hart has verbally agreed a three-year deal that represents a significant pay cut at Turf Moor.
Hart will be a Burnley player if there are no last-minute hiccups with the paperwork this weekend. City will be due payments depending on Burnley’s progress in the Europa League and Premier League.
Hart is understood to be enthusiastic about the move, citing the chance to play European football. He would be expected to start the third qualifying round first leg away at Istanbul Basaksehir next week.
Sean Dyche has a goalkeeping crisis after Nick Pope dislocated his shoulder at Aberdeen last week. That is when the prospect of Hart making the switch to east Lancashire arose. Pope is expected to face months on the sidelines after suffering a similar problem to the one that finished Tom Heaton’s season last September.
Dyche has reservations over the fitness of Heaton, who has not played for 11 months and is struggling with a calf injury. Anders Lindegaard deputised during Thursday’s victory over Aberdeen, his first start for two years.
Burnley have talked about allowing Pope or Heaton to leave the club while their stock is high and that could come to fruition in January.
Hart, meanwhile, is comfortable knowing that he does not need to uproot his family from Cheshire and realises this represents his last chance at getting his career back on track.
City were ready to let Hart leave on a free transfer but demanded a fee when they were informed an English club were interested in him.
Pep Guardiola took Hart to America on tour last month and he played in all three of City’s friendly games. He has an unwavering belief that he can still be a success in the Premier League, despite a rocky loan spell at West Ham.