Re: joe hart
FRom the Telegraph:
Joe Hart will start Tuesday’s England’s friendly against Germany with increased doubts over his club future, after it emerged that Manchester City are planning a move to sign Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Julio Cesar in January.
Hart has been dropped by his club manager Manuel Pellegrini after a series of errors, with understudy Costel Pantilimon now first-choice. City are now actively seeking a new goalkeeper as well as a central defender when the window opens.
England manager Roy Hodgson has said if Hart is not first-choice by March then he may have to reassess his position in the team and he will already have been hoping that Ben Foster, when fit, regains his place at West Brom.
Cesar is desperate to quit QPR having been replaced as the Championship club’s No 1 by Robert Green. If the 34-year-old does not leave in January then his hopes of representing Brazil in next summer’s World Cup will be severely damaged. City have been considering other options but Cesar’s ready availability means he is an extremely strong option, although it is likely that he will insist on guarantees that he will join as the club’s first-choice.
Hodgson will restore Hart against Germany, having given Fraser Forster his debut in Friday’s 2-0 defeat to Chile, and conceded the City goalkeeper faces a “tough mental test and a tough test of attitude” on Tuesday.
“I fully believe that Joe understands that and is ready for that,” Hodgson said. “All I can do is give him the shirt and give him the chance to go out and play. And afterwards he’s going to have to face whatever he faces.
“Whether he plays well and does well and keeps a clean sheet and helps us to win the game then I’m sure people are going to be saying some very good things about him. But if he doesn’t and lets a couple of easy goals in, he’s going to have to accept that there’ll be criticism, because that’s the way of the world we live in.
“He understands that if he loses his place in the Manchester City team and is criticised for letting a couple of goals in, then what happened will happen. I don’t need to take him aside and say: 'Joe, this is what happens in football’. I’ve got too much respect for him to do that.”