Pepe Reina: Former Liverpool keeper insists position should be changed to goal-player
Napoli No 1 reveals it's harder for keepers to find top clubs as there aren't as many options around
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FORMER Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has insisted that the name of his position should be changed.
The Spanish international, 34, also expressed his sympathy with axed former Manchester City No 1 Joe Hart.
The Napoli man, who won the FA Cup and League Cup in nine years at Liverpool, insisted that keepers should now be called "goal players".
Reina also said that Hart, who moved to Torino after Pep Guardiola decided he wasn't good enough on the ball, is more than capable in possession.
He told : "The game has changed so much for keepers because a lot of managers now expect us to be able to start play from the back as well as keep goals out.
"I don't think we should be called goalkeepers any more because we are more like goal players.
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"That is more the case if you are in a Guardiola team than if you are in any other and that's why he felt signing Claudio Bravo from Barcelona was so important to the way he wants City to play.
"I have seen people say that Hart isn't good with his feet but that isn't true. In terms of the speed and precision of his passes he is very good.
"The difference is that [Claudio] Bravo has been a goal player for many years and does not have to learn Guardiola's methods and that is why Hart was replaced.
"But he remains a top class keeper. There is no question about that."
Reina also said that Hart will benefit by moving to Serie A.
He added: "It is more tactical and less physical here.
"If you go for a high ball under pressure and don't claim it there's a strong possibility that you will be given a free kick because the keepers get much more protection here than they do in England.
"Every team plays its own way but I would say that after Napoli, last season Torino were one of the teams who play shortest; they liked to play from the back and that means the keeper has to be involved.
"But they have changed managers with Sinisa Mihajlovic replacing Giampiero Ventura so maybe their style will become a little bit different.
"But however they play I wouldn't expect Hart to have too many problems because he has played at the top level for so long."