Made extremely clear by Pep Guardiola that Joe Hart would not be a part of his short term plans at Manchester City, the England international took the opportunity to experience Serie A instead of sitting on the bench at the Etihad.
Swapping the north of England for Torino in Italy, the loanee is expected to make his first appearance for his new club at the weekend, after playing for his country during the international break.
The move should help Joe Hart experience something new, just like Wojciech Szczesny at Roma last year (and this year), and it seems the player was keen on the move when it was put to him, at least according to Torino’s sporting director Gianluca Petrachi.
Relayed by Calciomercato, the Italian explained Hart wasn’t their first choice originally.
He said: “First, we tried to get Viviano, but talking with his agent Vigorelli, who knows the goalkeeper’s (Hart’s) agent, we were promised a chance to get Hart given his problems at City.
“Talking to him, I realised that he wanted to come to Turin. I talked with Mihajlovic, and at that point, Lombardo (Torino’s assistant manager) called the player again to work out how humble he’d be about a move to Italy.”
Always best to double-check.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Hart adapts to Italian football, and if his time abroad will help him in the long run at Manchester City.
Somehow we doubt it, especially with the recent acquisition of Claudio Bravo, but you never know, Hart might come back head and shoulders (not even sorry about this) above his Chilean competition next season.
