Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Joe Hart could be facing a nervy few weeks as he will have to wait and see as to whether or not Pep Guardiola brings in a new goalkeeper to not only challenge but replace Hart from the Manchester City first team and it seems that the man to do that is Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stergen.
The 24 year old is the player earmarked as the man to take over from Hart although if that is to happen it will certainly come at a cost, that cost being £67m and in turn that would be the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper.
But as we know all too well City have no shortage of money and a move to Manchester may very well appel to the young German. Yes he may very well be swapping the scorching sun of Barcelona for the more rain based climate of Manchester but what is more in important is that he will be swapping predominately warming the bench at The Nou Camp for first team football at The Etihad.
Under the helm of Luis Enrique the Barcelona side rotates their keepers depending on what competition the club are playing in, Clauidio Bravo is charged with being in between the sticks in La Liga while ter Stergen has to make do with Copa Del Rey and Champions League duties.
But at 24 ter Stergen will feel that now is the time to being playing more regularly and may well that he is no longer prepared to bide his time at the Nou Camp and play backup to Claudio Bravo. For Barcelona it would be a great bit of business though, to recoup nearly £70m for what is mainly a substitute would be somewhat of a masterstroke. The loser in all of this would seem to be Joe Hart.
Hart needs a big season this campaign especially after the woes of Euro 2016 when he was at fault for two of the goals that England conceded but if ter Stergen does come in then he will see his game time for Manchester City marginalised to that of a bit part player.
Perhaps Pep Guardiola sees Hart as a player low on confidence and somewhat mentally fragile and therefore he views the goalkeeper role as one he needs to improve on. There was always going to be overhaul at City this Summer what with Guardiola’s arrival but that overhaul is really picking up pace now and it looks as if Hart is set to be the biggest victim of all the change going on at City.
