Yaya Toure and Joe Hart used to be Manchester City regulars but both now look to be on the scrapheap
Pep Guardiola is making his mark on this City team and it looks like pair are on their way out of Etihad
THEY were the backbone on which Manchester City have built their success in the Sheikh Mansour era.
Now they find themselves surplus to requirements.
Such is football and the ruthless streak in Pep Guardiola which appears to have ended the careers of Joe Hart, 29, and Yaya Toure, 33, at the Etihad.
He made it clear yesterday in a full and animated press conference that there is simply not enough patience to see how things go.
Not in this league, with the competition there is for the Premier League title this season.
He will have been studying the City players for a long time knowing this was the next step in his managerial odyssey.
For him, goalkeeper Hart cannot distribute the ball well enough from the back to fit into his style of play, and Toure simply does not work hard enough for his high-intensity style.
On Toure, who has not even made Guardiola’s first two squads, he said: “When he increases a little bit his intensity without the ball, he will be part of the group — if he wants to stay.”
It’s a big ‘if’ as it is with Hart whose terrible summer continues after his Euro 2016 blunders.
He has found himself dumped on the bench with Argentinian Willy Caballero promoted into his place.
Guardiola is also actively chasing Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo and when asked yesterday if Hart could leave, he said: “Of course. I want happiness for the players. I don’t want players who don’t want to stay. I don’t want players who are unhappy.
“If you want to stay then stay but if a player wants to leave because they prefer to play every game — and I’m not just talking about Joe — I want to play with players who want to stay.”
Guardiola said he would let him leave on loan, with Everton and Sevilla waiting in the wings.
But the new City boss has also offered Hart a lifeline — if he wants to grab it — claiming he can make the England No 1 a better keeper.
He said: “I said to him from the first moment that if he stays he is going to improve.
“He has to understand what we want from our goalkeeper.
“I spoke with Joe from the first moment we met in China.
“I try to be clear with my players and I was clear with him. I have a lot of respect about him as a person and a goalkeeper.
“I was clear with what I was looking for. I am here at Manchester City because they contacted me to play the way I like, the way I grew up from 13-14 years old and I am here to try to convince the players.
“The first thing I am looking for from the goalkeeper is to save — that is the important thing.