Former first-choice goalkeeper of England national team, Joe Hart, is in the wilderness of his career as he is without a club for the first time in his 17 years old career.
His contract with Burnley expired today, June 30, and the 33-year-old former Manchester City shots stopper believes that he still has a lot to play for despite not being wanted at Burnley.
Joe Hart was a shining light at Manchester City where he spent most of his football career. While at the club, he mounted the goalpost 266 times between 2006 and 2018. His consistent run of games at City dwindled when Pep Guardiola arrived at the club in 2016. Hence, he was sent on loan to Torino in Guardiola‘s first season. In the following season, Joe Hart was forced on loan to West Ham United.
Since it was obvious that he was not wanted in Pep Guardiola‘s City squad, he decided to sign for Burnley in 2018. Still, his career woes continued and became worse in the outgoing 2019-2020 season. Hence, he had to be released as a free agent.
To show how unwanted he was at Burnley, he was only used 3 times this season at Burnley and unfortunately for him, he conceded 7 goals in those three matches. The 33-year-old former England international was not used at all throughout the Premier League.
The good old days of Joe Hart
Before his career woes started, Joe Hart was a beautiful price in the Premier League. He was so good that he won the Premier League Golden Glove for four consecutive seasons, from 2010-2011 to 2014-2015 season all at Manchester City.
His performance in goal also helped Manchester City to win two Premier League titles – 2011–2012 and 2013–2014 seasons. He was also instrumental in helping City to win Football League Cup – 2013–2014 and 2015–2016 seasons.
But now, the former Manchester City star is not wanted in a struggling Burnley and he has been out of the England national team since 2017 with no hope of staging a comeback.
“You can have great things said about you in football, but you have to be strong on self-criticism, analyse what you are doing and be comfortable with it”, Joe Hart told BBC.
“Maybe from the outside, people are thinking it is a time for panic, but from the inside, it is a time to look forward and see all the opportunities.
“I am young when it comes to goalkeeping. I am even younger when it comes to the mental age of a guy who just wants to go in goal and have people whack balls at him.
“I am under no illusions that Real Madrid is going to knock my door down, get [Thibaut] Courtois out and bring me in. But there is plenty more to come from me. I just need someone to believe in me and I will repay that faith.”
It is now left to see the team that can have faith in Joe Hart at this point. The world can only wait to see how far his passion will take him since he is now a free agent.
