Jamie O’Hara has suggested that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had a negative impact on Joe Hart’s career.
Earlier this week, the former City goalkeeper announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season.
This has since led to the Englishman being the topic of conversation in the media, with one pundit sharing a claim about what sort of role Guardiola had in the later part of Hart’s career.
Pundit says Guardiola ‘killed’ Hart
Speaking on talkSPORT, O’Hara had this to say about Hart and the impact Guardiola had on his career.
He said: “I think he’s been a fantastic ‘keeper. At his time, when he was playing he was a world-class goalkeeper. Pep killed him because he tried to change the way goalkeepers play and he probably did because all goalkeepers play out from the back.
“Joe Hart though, I think gets a little bit of a bad taste left in your mouth because of what Pep did to him. I played with Joe Hart and he was good with his feet, brilliant with his feet.”
Shortly after Guardiola was appointed as City’s manager back in 2016, Hart was loaned out to Torino for a season before then spending the season after that on loan at West Ham United.
In the 2018 summer transfer window, City sold the goalkeeper to Burnley, bringing an end to his 12-year spell at the club.
Back in March 2022, Hart revealed that Guardiola told him that he didn’t have what it takes to be the sort of goalkeeper he wanted in his side.
After two years at Burnley and one at Tottenham Hotspur, the former England international joined his current club, Celtic, in 2021, where he has since made 138 appearances and kept 59 clean sheets.
In our opinion, while things may not have been too successful for Hart between the time of Guardiola’s arrival and his move to Celtic, O’Hara’s comments are rather over the top and quite degrading of what the goalkeeper has achieved at Parkhead.
