Dejected: Given, with wife Jane yesterday, is likely to be out for monthsManchester City will launch an audacious bid to end Joe Hart’s loan spell at Birmingham and take him back to Eastlands in a move that will enrage their Barclays Premier League rivals.
City desperately need an experienced goalkeeper after losing their No 1 Shay Given to a shoulder injury that rules him out for four months as they face games against Aston
Villa and Tottenham in the battle for the fourth Champions League spot.
With Given’s understudy, Stuart Taylor, only due to start training again today after a knee operation, City expect the Premier League to give them special dispensation to bring in an emergency keeper.
And although City boss Roberto Mancini has identified Sunderland’s Hungarian international Marton Fulop as a fall-back option, it is understood the club’s football administrator, Brian Marwood, will try to persuade Birmingham to release Hart today.
Loan star Hart has enjoyed an exceptional season and is the form goalkeeper of the Premier League in the eyes of many.
Nevertheless, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and Villa boss Martin O’Neill will surely have something to say if their rivals are allowed to sign the England international for their last three games of the campaign.
O’Neill, for example, witnessed Hart in action as his team squeezed past Birmingham in the 1-0 win at Villa Park on Sunday and he would not fancy facing the England international again when he takes his team to Eastlands on Saturday
Wanted man: Joe Hart has made a big impression during his loan stint at BirminghamRedknapp, meanwhile, is due to take Spurs to City for what many believe will be a
Champions League decider tomorrow week.
There is, of course, absolutely no reason why Birmingham should agree to City’s request. There is no clause in Hart’s loan contract that says he must be released and manager Alex McLeish has already suggested he would turn City down.
However, it is understood that City will appeal to Birmingham’s better nature and point out that it is impossible for them to climb higher than their current position of ninth in the table.
It will also be stressed that three high-profile end-of-season games will serve to enhance Hart’s prospects of going to the World Cup with England.
Nevertheless, Birmingham will have to consider the fact they can still be caught by
Sunderland, Blackburn, Fulham and Stoke City and that the difference in prize-money between ninth and 13th, for example is a significant £2.8million
Up in arms: Redknapp (left) and O'Neill will be livid should the move go aheadCity began their search for a goalkeeper early yesterday when the Premier League gave them initial guidance that they would in all likelihood be allowed to bring someone in.
That has to be officially ratified today but is expected to be approved by the Premier League board.
Under league rules, clubs who suffer injuries to two of their first-team keepers are allowed to bring another in on loan, regardless of the usual transfer-window restrictions.
Villa and Tottenham, however, are likely to point out that Taylor is back in training today and could feasibly play this weekend, despite what would appear to be an obvious lack of match fitness. They may also stress that Manchester City have another international, Faroe Islander Gunnar Nielsen, on their books.
Nielsen came on for the closing stages after Given was injured at the Emirates on Saturday but he is considered by Mancini to be too green to see out the season. Knowing that their bid to re-sign Hart may very well fail, City have identified Sunderland goalkeeper Fulop as another possibility. Celtic’s Artur Boruc was another name mentioned yesterday but he has now been ruled out.Given had a scan on his injured shoulder yesterday and will have another today. Iit seems certain he will need surgery, and that is likely to keep him out until the start of next season.
There was better news for Stoke’s Tthomas Sorensen, who dislocated an elbow against Chelsea on Sunday. He will not need an operation and he will therefore be fit to travel to the World Cup with Denmark.
source: dailymail
