Goalkeeper must grab chance with both hands at Hammers
JOE Hart must have an uncanny feeling of deja vu as he prepares for life as a West Ham United player next season.
Eight years ago, the City goalkeeper had the rug pulled from under his feet, just when it seemed he had made the breakthrough to the big time.
It was perhaps not as much of a slap in the face as the events of last summer, when he went from City hero to Serie A sideshow in the space of a few traumatic weeks.
But no doubt he will draw on those experiences as he sets about having to prove himself, for club and country, all over again.
Sven-Goran Eriksson showed his faith in the £100,000 purchase from Shrewsbury back in 2007, naming the 20-year-old Hart as his number one keeper, ahead of Andreas Isaksson.
Hart had showed what he could do in successful loan spells at Tranmere and Blackpool, and Eriksson labelled him as ‘one of the biggest talents in the country.’
Hart’s upwardly-mobile feeling was enhanced by his first England call-up in the summer of 2008, and he won the first of his 71 caps against Trinidad and Tobago.
Any notion that he had made it, that fame and fortune were his, was swiftly dispelled as Sheikh Mansour took over City and Mark Hughes was given the task of turning the Blues from a club content to be mid-table meanderers into a European superpower.
Hughes wanted experience between the sticks and in his first full transfer window splashed £6m of the Sheikh’s cash on the reliable Shay Given.
Hart was suddenly out in the cold, and that summer was again loaned out, to newly-promoted Birmingham City.
The parallels with his current situation are stark. Last summer he was usurped by Claudio Bravo, a smaller but more experienced keeper, just as Given was in 2009.
West Ham finished 11th last season while Birmingham, helped by Hart, were to finish ninth.
But the fact he was playing in a team that spent most of the 90 minutes on the back foot did wonders for Hart.
He was soon earning rave reviews, and finished the season as Birmingham’s player of the year.
In the meantime, Hughes had got the push and new boss Roberto Mancini had his goalkeeping coach, Massimo Battara, assess Hart’s progress.
His report convinced Mancini to bring Hart back into the fold for the 2010-11 season – and in his first game back he performed heroics to earn the Blues a goalless draw at Tottenham.
Within weeks he was the undoubted first choice, and had established himself as top dog for England as well.
Behind a West Ham defence that leaked 64 goals last season, he has the perfect opportunity to resurrect his career. And even though that is unlikely to mean a return to City, he would be set up to move on to a bigger club – and earn City a hefty fee in the process.