If there’s one thing we’ve learnt in the past few months, it’s that many clubs could be forced to start buying at the bottom of the market due to the current climate and the financial implications of it.
It’s also no secret that former England goalkeeper Joe Hart has very much been on the decline in the past few years. From the days when he was pretty much unchallenged as the country’s number one, he now finds himself set to enter the summer as a free agent after current club Burnley decided not to renew his contract.
Which begs the question, as Birmingham Live has done, should the Blues be going after him and bringing him back to St Andrew’s?
A few things to consider. As I mentioned earlier, given the way things have been going, we along with a lot of other clubs are going to have to go cheap this summer. And barring a few obvious exceptions, when you go cheap, very rarely are you getting world-class quality.
Should the club go after Joe Hart?
Yes
No
There’s a reason that he’s being let go from a Premier League club, and that’s because he’s clearly not up to their standards, but could he cut it at Championship level? Given his record so far this season against opponents who are lower than Championship, the numbers very much go against him, conceding two against Peterborough and three against Sunderland.
The other thing to consider is his age. Hart is currently 33, which is only two years younger than our current number one Lee Camp. Now with current boss Pep Clotet talking about the young talent that the club has, even though he is set to leave the club and the new manager might have a differing philosophy, I think it would send out the wrong message if the club were to bring in someone of his age when we have a number of keepers already in the system.
So by all means, if the Blues want to go after him they can, but just don’t get your hopes up that he would come in and be this shining white knight to come and turn the whole club’s fortunes around in one swoop.
What about you? Do you think the club should be chasing after Hart?
I’d take Joe back in an instant! When he left Blues he was the best ‘keeper in Europe if not the world. His confidence was shattered by the shabby treatment at the Etihad and the way the press stuck the knives in after being primed by Club insiders! I’d have a lot more confidence with Joe between the sticks than anyone we have on board at the moment. Joe would also have confidence to perform to the higher standards as before. He’s worth 10 goals a season on his own! If there’s a chance he’ll sign snap him up!