Vincent Kompany has praised his former Manchester City teammate Joe Hart and the development he made during his time at the club.
The former City defender will see his Burnley team take on Pep Guardiola’s side in their first game of the next Premier League season in August.
With the Manchester club’s latest season now over, their former captain has shared his thoughts on one of his teammates he played alongside for a significant amount of time while at the club.
Kompany praises Hart
Speaking on The Overlap with Gary Neville, Kompany said this about Hart when asked who the best personality he shared a dressing room with throughout his playing career.
He said: “As a personality for the team I would say Joe Hart. It’s the first name that comes to mind.
“Also because I saw his development, he went from being the dressing room clown to being the positive energy and positive motivator to being a real leader and I don’t think people remember how big he was in those first two titles we had and in those first few years City were doing well.
“He was unbelievable and was just unlucky that the game changed right at the moment where he was going into his prime.”
During their time together at the Etihad Stadium, the duo played in 230 games together, winning numerous domestic trophies.
With 348 appearances for City to his name, Hart conceded 347 goals and kept 137 clean sheets in the process.
Throughout the 2011/12 Premier League season, the goalkeeper played in all 38 of City’s matches, making him one of the six shot-stoppers to do so.
Across those appearances, the Englishman faced 133 shots on target, saving 104 of them, leaving him with the highest save percentage (78.2%) out of the six goalkeepers that played in every league game that season.
This backs up the point Kompany made about how vital Hart was during that significant season in the club’s history.
In terms of his exit from the club in 2016 once Guardiola arrived at City, the 36-year-old was told by the Spaniard that he wasn’t able to do what he wanted in terms of being able to play the ball with his feet.
