STUART Pearce has signalled his intent to change the future face of Manchester City by splashing out é600,000 on teenage keeper Joe Hart.
As exclusively reported in Saturday's M.E.N Sport, the Blues had been stalking the youngster for six months before finally persuading Shrewsbury to sell their prized asset.
City could eventually have to pay the Shropshire side as much as é1.5m for the England starlet depending on first-team appearances and senior international honours.
With money in the transfer window tight, it is a clear sign of Pearce's belief in the player's talent that he was willing shell out so much.
The 19-year-old last season became the most watched youngster in League Two and was rated the best in the division by his fellow players who named him in the PFA team of the season.
Happy
The 6ft 3in keeper has signed a four-year deal and will have a medical later this week after returning from England Under-19 duty in Belgium where he has already been playing in a defence containing Micah Richards, the Blues' homegrown teenage defensive sensation.
The move is further happy news for City who have just secured the signature of their coveted teenage striker Daniel Sturridge on a three-year agreement.
Hart will come into a senior squad already brimming with embryo talent including Nedum Onuoha, Matthew Mills, Stevie Ireland and Lee Croft. All of them are veteran internationals at junior level.
Both Pearce and his goalkeeping coach Tim Flowers were regular visitors last season to Gay Meadow to check out Hart as a possible long-term successor to England veteran David James who has signed a one-year extension to his contract.
Battle
Pearce will set Hart to work with Flowers and to learn from senior keepers James and Nick Weaver before launching him into a succession battle with Kasper Schmeichel, who impressed greatly this season in loan spells at Darlington and Bury.
One or both of them may well be sent out on loan again this season.
Both Hart and Schmeichel are too old for the youth team and, with Weaver needing games to keep him sharp, appearances in the second string could be limited.
That said, City are convinced that Hart will go all the way and the board are delighted to back their managerés judgement.
éJoeés signing reflects the clubés commitment to attracting the best young English players. He has a good deal of professional experience,é at League Two level for somebody who has only just turned 19,é said chief executive Alistair Mackintosh.
Shrewsbury chief Gary Peters, who slapped the original é1.5m price tag on Hartés head last season, when the Blues and others were first sniffing deal, has no qualms about his former keeperés pedigree.
éJoe will play for England one day,éé he said.
What do you make of the signing? Have your say.
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It's a good signing i think, hope we carry on signing the best up and coming youngsters. Just think at the moment though we need to spend our tight budget on players in midfield where we are badly lacking!
Come on SP, lets pull a few out of the bag!
Does anyone else get frustrated with Mr Pearces comments, last week he was saying he hopes and needs to sign at least 7 players, and then yesterday he said he was talking to about 7 players of which he hopes to sign 1 maybe 2! Make up your mind!
Bit of a stupid question to ask that MEN because I doubt any blue has seen the lad play. His name was mentioned months ago and obviously SP rates the lad very highly so we must trust his judgement. One thing is for sure, however much I like David James, we must be preparing a ready made replacement for 1/2 years time and SP seems to think this lad is the one.
Woah! Where did this one come from? We're pleading poverty, not got two pennies to rub together yet we're spending ??600,000 on a "prospect"? Add in the ??300,000 for Mattew Mills and the ??3m upfront for Samaras and Pearce is certainly taking the long-term view... let's hope he's still in the job when they finally come good! So we're crying out for full-backs and midfielders, yet we buy a goalie... we've now got 4 of them! Wouldn't the cash have been better spent on the short-term problems we have... which include avoiding rel;egation next season! Best of luck to the young lad, but I still don't see the sense in it. Sorry. Maybe this, though, fuels the rumours that David James may be on his way after the World Cup... biggest earner at the club, last year of contract... Watford back in the Premiership... Harry Redknapp looking for a goalie at Pompey? Hmmm... it all makes sense now!
I find it hard to fathom this signing. If its changing the face of City what does that say about David James, Nicky Weaver and Kasper Schmeichal? I would have thought there was nothing wrong with their application and abilities. I am sure Hart is a great prospect but asomething isn't quite right here.
Another one for the future,the young players coming thru along with the signing of Mills,Hart & Samaras is really exciting.
I'm sure more experienced players will follow.
Good signing and I'm thrilled he's at the club. Psycho's five year plan's looking very good. Now let's see if we can get the bodies in to make sure we can continue our stay in premiership. How long is it taking to talk to Dabo? It's not like he's got a world cup to prepare for. Glad he's taking his time but it's been a couple of months since the Dabo story first broke. Come on Stu, keep em coming ...
Great news. Defo one for the future. Dabo is on his way as well
I am encouraged for the mid term future with the quality of youngsters we have in place and SP's policy of blooding them. However my concern is the immediate future - i.e. next season. We need some real qulaity in the team & a DECENT investment on the likes of Malbranque etc. will give us a return in investment via the kids playing in a successful team instead of a struggling one.CTID
No doubt a great signing.....have been hearing very good things bout this kid.....but the fact of the matter is, what about the players we need now!!!! dickov, u can get lost, go and sign back for leicester
Big Joe in nets for City and England, there's a familiar ring to that.
City have got themselves an excellent goalkeeper. I wish Joe luck for the future.
Ross SP's comments make absolute sense. Just because he is talking to 7 players it doesn't mean he intends to sign all 7. Also thats part of a negotiation process and technique. He is determing who he wants from what they want and what they have to offer.
No doubting this kid is a good young talent, and in an ideal world where money is no object then ??600,000,though still a lot of money for a league 2 player,would be a good investment. I have to go with the opinion though that unless we have more cash available than is been let on,or SP knows something about our goalkeeping situation he is not letting out,then that money could and perhaps should have been spent in far more urgent areas ie midfield & full-backs.Hope you are right on this one physco!
Joe Hart is a talent, very much in the mould of clemence and i'm sure you will get the best out of the lad. Very good distribution, excellent shot stopper and very fast off his line, all the benefits of a good keeper. Best of luck joe and man city for the future. Brian Dewhirst, telford. (stfc fan)
Ermmmm,whilst I admire the policy of young up and coming players coming to the club,is goalkeeper the position we really need now??? If this signing doesnt impact on our already meager transfer budget then fair enough so come out and tell us that Stuart...if not could 600k have been used on an up and coming championship midfielder perhaps!? Also noticed Damian Francis was touted as a makewieght in a Wigan swoop for Johnson,perhaps he could be an addition to our midfield on the cheap!!
i have a work colleague in shewrsbury and he has watched him many times and reckons he is a brilliant prospect ,good work sp keep it up think a lot of these youngsters will be in first team very soon and amazing 2 comments in a week from alistar mackintosh, things are looking up,
Look at the divisions - there are no quality English goalies around after the James/Robinson generation. Buying the most promising English goalie around makes serious sense as an investment - Chelsea in 5 years time for 10 million?
Cannot understand this one for the life of me,transfer funds are tight so we go and buy another goalkeeper, after giving Weaver another contract.We've also got Scmeichel who has been getting rave reviews on loan and the kid who played in the youth team final looked promising too.Perhaps after our dismal end of season showing we are asking for special dispensation to play 2 keepers.Would have thought there are other areas of the squad that needed strengthening first.
While it is nice for everyone to think of the future,surely the immediate future comes first and 600K could have been spent on a decent 1st team player.I only hope City are not "papering over the cracks" as urgent attention has to be given to our end of season freefall.
Sorry, but this signing beggars belief. Not because the kid ain't good (I have no doubt that he is), but because we are skint, and we need a big goal scoring centre forward, a quality central midfielder and a left sided midfielder, and yet here we are blowing our tiny budget on a reserve team keeper. Buying for the long term future is not a luxury a team in desperate need of players for the here and now, and with no money, can afford. Crazy!
WE DONT NEED ANOTHER KEEPER! I wonder what kasper schmeichel is thinking when just bought another keeper. We should strengthen on the creative midfield, i dont what SP see in sib!!
Get in!!! CTID
Too much whinging and conspiracy theory already on this one. SP is actually showing signs of having a sensible strategy i.e. invest most of your transfer budget in players who are under 25... Personally, I rate goalkeeper the most important position in the team, so having two promising keepers battling it out to be the long-term replacement for Jamo is a good thing. Lots of things can go wrong for a young keeper ??" look at Weaver (who I would not write-off just yet). I grew up on City teams that had great flair but you have to build from the back.
Whilst i hail the clubs new-found policy of buying up young talent to augment our academy, i have to agree with others on here. On the face of it, it looks barmy spending what little money we have on 1) a goalkeeper and 2) one that won't be ready for the first team for at least another season. Maybe we've got more money to spend than they're letting on?
None of you know a) what the transfer budget actually is; b) how we are paying the ??600k (it might be ??150k every year for 4 years). It might turn out to be the best piece of business we've ever done. Stop crabbing...