Turin welcomes Joe the jet-setter
JOE HART returned to England’s St George’s training camp last night and will be confirmed as a Torino player today. The goalkeeper made a whirlwind trip from Manchester to Turin by private jet yesterday where he had a medical and agreed his seasonlong loan to the Serie A club.
The final paperwork was being transferred between the clubs last night ahead of today’s official announcement.
Torino will pay around £55,000-aweek of his salary, with City finding the rest of his £130,000 weekly wage.
Hart, 29, who will become the first English goalkeeper to play in Serie A since the league’s inception in 1929, had earlier emerged at the club’s Stadio Olimpico Grande HQ to greet a group of more than 100 supporters who called his name as he posed for photographs with scarves and a club shirt bearing his name.
He had travelled to Italy with Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic, who is due to agree a £3.75m move to Torino today.
Hart returned to Manchester last night and joins up with the England side at St George’s ahead of Sunday’s opening 2018 World Cup qualifying match away to Slovakia.
He had been given permission to leave by manager Sam Allardyce. Hart is under pressure to retain his place in the national side after making errors during England’s miserable Euro 2016 campaign, especially when knocked out by Iceland.
City continue to shed fringe players with Samir Nasri agreeing to join Sevilla on loan. The Frenchman, 29, shunned an offer from Besiktas and will move to Spain to replace Sevilla’s Yevhen Konoplyanka, who is bound for Schalke. Sevilla agreed to pay 60 per cent of his £ 120,000- a- week wages but there is no option to buy.
City boss Pep Guardiola did not allow Nasri to train with the main group when he reported back for pre- season overweight, but he appeared as a substitute in Sunday’s win over West Ham.
Meanwhile, a move to take defender Eliaquim Mangala back to Porto on loan has stalled. Porto sold the defender to City for £32m two years ago, but the 25-year-old has other options, including Valencia, and is keen to explore them.
Porto still need to find a replacement for Bruno Martins Indi. He is poised to join Stoke City, who are also discussing a potential £2m loan for City striker Wilfried Bony. CHELSEA’S
planned £ 25m move for Inter Milan’s Marcelo Brozovic remains in the balance as the clubs try to untangle ownership issues surrounding the Croatia midfielder.
The London club turned down an approach from Sunderland to sign back-up goalkeeper Asmir Begovic on loan. However, Chelsea striker Loic Remy has been allowed to join Crystal Palace on loan for this season and Juventus hope to clinch an agreement to re- sign winger Juan Cuadrado, 28, on a seasonlong loan with a purchase option.
Brazilian winger Kenedy has also joined Watford on a season’s loan. The 20-year-old played 20 times for Chelsea last year.