After being snubbed at the weekend, reports continue to suggest that Joe Hart fears his Manchester City career is over.
Pep Guardiola took charge of his first Premier League game against Sunderland on Saturday evening, and opted to start Willy Caballero between the posts with Hart on the bench.
The Premier League giants secured a 2-1 win over David Moyes and his men, but despite claiming a victory in Guardiola’s first competitive game in England, much of the focus was on the big decision he made for his starting line-up.
According to The Sun, sources claim that the relationship between the England international and his new club boss have been ‘frosty’ from the start, and in turn the former Barcelona coach will target Claudio Bravo ahead of the deadline to replace him.
It’s added that Hart hasn’t been directly told that his time at City is up and should look elsewhere, but he believes that ultimately the writing is on the wall and that he’ll be forced to consider his options away from the Etihad in order to secure first-team football on a regular basis.
The 29-year-old has spent almost a decade as the top choice City goalkeeper, but his inability to play out from the back as effectively as Guardiola would like and his tendency to make high-profile mistakes in more recent times have been put down as the reasons as to why the Spaniard wants a change.
Whether or not Hart can prove his worth between now and the deadline and snatch his place in the starting line-up back remains to be seen, but on the basis of the speculation that has surfaced thus far, it doesn’t paint a particularly positive picture for him.