Pep Guardiola has admitted that his one regret as Manchester City manager was the decision to let Joe Hart leave the club. The 55-year-old, who announced he will depart City after their final Premier League match against Aston Villa on Sunday, opened up about the choice he made shortly after taking charge in 2016.
Guardiola told Sky Sports: '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 hid deep inside for many years. I didn't give Joe Hart the chance to be with me, to prove himself how good a goalkeeper he was. And I should have done.'
The Catalan manager opted to sign Claudio Bravo from Barcelona as a replacement, believing Hart was not comfortable enough with the ball at his feet. Hart, a City legend who had won two Premier League titles and four Golden Glove awards, was loaned to Torino and never played for the club again. Bravo struggled in the Premier League, and City signed Ederson the following year, who became Guardiola's long-term number one.
Guardiola reflected: 'Not because - all respect to Claudio, all respect for Edi, who came in and was important - but in that moment, I thought, 'Okay, Joe, let's try to do it together and if it doesn't work, then okay, we change it because it happened'. But it happened. You know, life is sometimes, I have to take decisions and sometimes I'm not fair enough.'
Hart later had spells at West Ham, Burnley, Tottenham, and Celtic, where he won trophies before retiring. He is now a pundit and will cover the World Cup for the BBC. Guardiola previously labelled Hart a 'legend' upon his departure.
