Joe Hart is still waiting for offers, but accepts that his Manchester City career is over after the Premier League club moved for Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson.
City reported paid €40-million to buy the 23-year-old from Portuguese champions Benfica, leaving Hart unsure of his future after spending last season on loan at Torino in Serie A.
England keeper Hart was criticised after conceding a pair of Leigh Griffiths free kicks in a 2-2 World Cup qualifying draw against rivals Scotland, and manager Gareth Southgate has indicated he will pick one of his other options in goal against France for Tuesday’s Paris friendly.
Hart is now keen to sort out his club future and he wants the stability of a permanent contract, rather than another loan move away from the Etihad Stadium.
‘I would love to give you a poker-face answer, but I’ve got nothing at the moment,’ Hart told reporters.
‘People are focused on international duty and respecting that players are focused on international duty. Come Tuesday, I don’t know how everyone else finishes, but after that is when conversations can be had and people can start being real.
‘I’d love to be withholding information about my future, but I don’t have the information to withhold. My personal situation is interesting and patience is going to have to be the key. I’m lucky that I’ve got this great distraction of being involved with my country and then we will see.’
‘It’s a strange world, the goalkeeping world. You look at some of the top teams in the world that have got the best strikers and they are looking to buy another top striker,’ Hart continued.
‘But if you have got a top goalkeeper, you are not often looking to buy another goalkeeper. It’s a game of chess and my situation is different to everyone else’s, and we are going wait and see how it plays out.
‘We all need stability in our life. I’m not a kid anymore, I can’t just pack my stuff like a 19 or 17-year-old and go on loan. I am a 30-year-old man with stuff I need to organise. I like stability. There is an ideal situation to come out of this, but nothing is perfect. It’s a short career and football is crazy, so I have to be prepared for anything.
‘I need an offer first and then I need to work out my options if I have choices. I want to be playing at the highest possible level, pushing myself. It’s a short career. I want to push everything out of me. Physically, I feel in great condition and I want to go again.’
Hart insisted he does not hold a grudge against City or manager Pep Guardiola, despite being discarded by the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss without making a single appearance under his leadership.
‘Not really,’ Hart said when asked if he had been in contact with the club. ‘They have obviously signed the new keeper and I get the direction.
‘There is no real need for me to talk to them, I’m lucky enough to have management who deal with that side of things. I think they spoke to my agent. There is no animosity between the two camps. They are going about their business and we are going to go about ours.
‘I don’t know exactly what the price will be. It’s hard to say if it’s realistic. Football is a business at the end of the day. You can’t judge, realistically. The millions and zillions of pounds that get paid for someone to come and play football for you in the real world is strange. In the business world, the football world, it’s not.
‘I certainly don’t think they are going to try and price me out of a move. I think there’s enough respect between the player and club to work together. There’s no point in working against each other. There’s no animosity between the two. They are going in their direction and I need to go in mine.’
– This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za