Manchester City Transfer News: Joe Hart to Be Offered 'Considerate' Exit Deal

Manchester City will reportedly allow Joe Hart to leave the club on a permanent basis for £9 million next summer to repay him for his years of distinguished service.

The England international was marginalised by new manager Pep Guardiola before being loaned to Italian side Torino late in the window.

According to Daniel Cutts of the Sun, Hart will be shipped out on a full-time basis next summer, with City set to offer him a severance package for the remaining three years of his deal, said to be worth £17.8 million.

“City would be willing to pay him off around half that figure and also be ‘considerate’ towards his selling price,” said an Etihad insider quoted in the report. “They are also willing to bankroll half his present wages for 12 months and revisit the severance situation next summer. Both parties are operating on surprisingly cordial terms.”

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For the first three games of the Premier League season, Guardiola opted to use Willy Caballero between the sticks. City then moved to bring in Claudio Bravo from Barcelona, seemingly relegating Hart to third choice before he made the switch to Turin.

The motivation behind this change seems to be Guardiola’s desire for a goalkeeper who possesses both fine distribution and goalkeeping skills. As we can see Bravo ticks both boxes:

Hart only ticks one. While he emerged as an authoritative presence and a vocal leader at the back for City, he doesn’t look altogether comfortable with the ball at his feet. Nevertheless, in the right type of setup, the England international is still well capable of doing a fine job.

Evidently, Guardiola didn’t want Hart hanging around as the third-choice stopper. As noted by Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail, City seemed pretty keen to get the goalkeeper off their books before the end of the transfer window:

Hart will be hopeful of showing he’s still an elite goalkeeper at Torino. He’s had a few testing months, with a poor end to the season followed by more struggles at the UEFA European Championship and a subsequent relegation in stature at City. Nonetheless, at 29, he has a lot of years left in him at the top.

And if clubs are aware Hart is available for such a small sum next summer, then you sense there will be more illustrious interest in the player.

Torino will feel as though getting the England man on board for the upcoming term is a significant coup, although they’ll likely face much stiffer competition if they’re to recruit him permanently in 2017.