Joe Hart would be a candidate to join
Manchester United should the club be unable to prevent David de Gea’s move to Real Madrid .
The 30-year-old England goalkeeper, whose loan spell with Torino will expire next month, would relish the opportunity of exchanging the Etihad Stadium for Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson remarked that failing to sign Hart when he was offered him by his first club, Shrewsbury, for £100,000 remains one of his deepest regrets in the transfer market. Ferguson called him 'the best English goalkeeper of the last 20 years'.
Hart has let it be known that he would prefer to remain in the North-West, where he has lived since joining Manchester City from Shrewsbury in 2006. He returned to Manchester on Easter Sunday to celebrate his 30th birthday alongside Kasper Schmeichel, Jamie Vardy and Kevin de Bruyne.
Although there have been very few direct transfers across Manchester – Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves were out of contract when they moved from Old Trafford to the Etihad Stadium – Hart would have no compunction in switching sides. There is a part of him that would relish the opportunity of proving Pep Guardiola wrong.
A move to Everton, who are the bookmakers’ favourites to sign him permanently, would also allow Hart to continue to live in Cheshire with his wife, Kimberley and two-year-old son, Harlow.