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Five Manchester City players who could leave this year

By James Fudge

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 09: Eliaquim Mangala of Manchester City during the Carabao Cup Semi-Final First Leg match between Manchester City and Bristol City at Etihad Stadium on January 9, 2018 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 09: Eliaquim Mangala of Manchester City during the Carabao Cup Semi-Final First Leg match between Manchester City and Bristol City at Etihad Stadium on January 9, 2018 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 14: Joe Hart of Manchester City celebrates as his team score during the FA Cup sponsored by E.ON Final match between Manchester City and Stoke City at Wembley Stadium on May 14, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 14: Joe Hart of Manchester City celebrates as his team score during the FA Cup sponsored by E.ON Final match between Manchester City and Stoke City at Wembley Stadium on May 14, 2011 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

Joe Hart: The former England number one was deemed not good enough when Pep Guardiola arrived in Manchester due to the lack of distribution and technical skills required to play as a sweeper keeper.

Frozen out by the signings of Claudio Bravo from Barcelona and then Ederson, Hart has endured indifferent loan spells with Torino and West Ham in the last two seasons.

In particular, the loan spell at West Ham started out well as the keeper made a string of fine saves to keep West Ham in games and stop them dropping further into relegation. In came David Moyes as Slaven Bilic’s replacement and was eventually dropped in favour of Adrian after a number of mistakes.

Hart let in 39 goals after 93 shots on target against him, while Adrian conceded 29 after 97 shots on target. Hart only made four clean sheets in his 19 appearances and was subsequently dropped for England’s World Cup squad in favour of Nick Pope, Jack Butland and Jordan Pickford

Prior to Guardiola’s reign, the former Shrewsbury Town youth prospect made 348 appearances and was a mainstay in the city goal under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.

Hart is only 31 and will provide a good option for teams at the lower end of the Premier League, should he decide to stay in England. A team chasing promotion in the Championship will be a credible move for Hart as the hierarchy at Manchester City are unlikely to demand a large fee for the player, especially with one year left on his contract. Wages could prove a stumbling block though.

Most likely destination to leave for: Championship or MLS team