Manchester City to offload 'outcast' Joe Hart to West Ham

It's not been a good weekend for Joe Hart, what with the England keeper at fault for both the goals conceded against Scotland, while his club future remains up in the air.

With calls for the 30-year-old to be dropped following his cack-handed performance against the Scots, the Daily Mirror says that Manchester City have decided unequivocally that they don't want him back at the Etihad. Loaned out to Italian outfit Torino last season by Pep Guardiola, Hart is described by the paper as "an outcast" and adds that he is in a "nightmare" situation of trying to find the club before the pre-season tours get underway.

But there might be a solution at hand with The Sun claiming that West Ham are ready to sign the ham-fisted gloveman.

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Apparently, the Hammers "are looking to put together a loan deal with a view to a permanent transfer" although some agreement will need to be reached about money. West Ham "would struggle" to meet Hart's current wages as well as pay City an £18m transfer fee, so according to the Sun they will "match his £100,000-a-week salary on a loan deal for a year before then coming up with a transfer fee in 12 months' time".

With City struggling to find any takers for Hart, and none likely to come forward given his display on Saturday, it looks as though the Hammers will get their man and Hart will spared the indignity of claiming the jobseekers' allowance, at least for the time being. "I just want to play football," Hart told the Sun. "That's what I live and breathe — and I want to play at the highest possible level. I'm not a robot but there is nothing to get down about."