Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted his biggest regret from his time at the club – his ruthless decision to move on former goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Guardiola, who on Friday confirmed Daily Mail Sport’s exclusive that he will leave at the end of the season, is preparing to take charge of his final home game on Sunday against Aston Villa, bringing the curtain down on a glittering decade at the Etihad.
Ahead of his farewell, the Spaniard reflected on the one decision he would change, having opted to drop Hart shortly after arriving in the summer of 2016.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Guardiola looked visibly emotional when he said: ‘I want to confess something. I have regrets. When you take a lot of decisions – a lot, a lot of decisions – you make mistakes.
‘But there is one regret that I have hidden deep inside for many years.
‘I didn’t give Joe Hart the chance to be with me, to prove how good a goalkeeper he was.
Guardiola left Hart out at the start of the campaign in favour of Willy Caballero, before the arrival of Claudio Bravo pushed the England international further down the pecking order
‘I (should have) thought, “Okay Joe, let’s try to do it together. If it doesn’t work, then we change it”,’ Guardiola told Sky Sports
‘And I should have done. With all respect to Claudio (Bravo), and then Ederson who came in – he was important – but in that moment I (should have) thought, “Okay Joe, let’s try to do it together. If it doesn’t work, then we change it.”
‘But it happened. In life, sometimes you have to take decisions, and sometimes I’m not fair enough.’
Hart was 29 when Guardiola arrived in 2016 and had spent a decade at City, establishing himself as one of the Premier League’s leading goalkeepers.
However, he came into that season on the back of a disappointing European Championship, where he made a number of high-profile errors, including for Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s winner in England’s shock last-16 defeat by Iceland.
The goalkeeper later admitted he ‘had a feeling’ from the outset that Guardiola had already made up his mind, with the City boss publicly questioning whether Hart had the time to adapt to the ‘sweeper-keeper’ role he demands.
Guardiola left Hart out at the start of the campaign in favour of Willy Caballero, before the arrival of Claudio Bravo from Barcelona pushed the England international further down the pecking order.
Hart subsequently spent the 2016-17 season on loan at Torino, followed by another temporary spell at West Ham, before sealing a permanent move to Burnley in 2018.
Speaking to The High Performance Podcast last year, Hart said: ‘I think he signed maybe in February and I was deep into a contract at the club – three-and-a-half, maybe four years left on a deal.
‘The club were committed to me and I was committed to them. But their golden goose was to get Pep and I thought, “Great, I’d love to be a part of that”.
‘I would have loved to have stayed and tried to prove (him) otherwise. But I was living in that world where you want to play for England,’ Hart told The High Performance Podcast last year
‘When he came in he pulled me very early and I got the vibe that it wasn’t set in stone for me. I was a senior player and he’s the kind of person that I can imagine there would have been a conversation, previous to coming into training, along the lines of, “I’m looking forward to working with you”.
‘That didn’t happen. I don’t know if that’s how he works. I didn’t work with the guy. But I just kind of put two and two together. And we got in front of each other and he told me that, as much as he admired me as a person, he didn’t think I could fit into his system.
‘To which I said, “I don’t agree with you, but that’s your opinion. Is that something we can work on together or do I need to find a new home?”
‘And he said, “I’m happy to work but I can’t put everything aside that I’m trying to do, I’m here to win”. And I respected that. He was there to win, he wasn’t there to give me a good career or look after me. He needed a goalkeeper who he felt could function.
‘It was frustrating. What can you do? I would have loved to have stayed and tried to prove otherwise. But I was living in that world where you want to play for England. You can’t play for England if you’re being trialled at a football club, so it was just an unfortunate circumstance.
‘It wasn’t a personal attack on me, it was a man who had a vision and I didn’t fit into it.’
Guardiola has confirmed that he is set to take a break from the game, while the club have announced that he ‘will continue his relationship with the City Football Group, by taking up a role as a Global Ambassador’.
