Joe Hart Bio Send To Friend  

Joe Hart emerged as a young goalkeeper of great promise and quality in the 2007-08 campaign, with the young Englishman keeping Sweden number one Andreas Isaksson out of the Manchester City team.

By the end of the campaign he had won his first full England cap with many tipping him to become first choice - but lost his place the following season when Shay Given signed for City and he was loaned to Birmingham for 2009-10.

City signed Hart from Shrewsbury Town in May 2006, paying an initial fee of £600,000, rising to a possible £1.5m and made a handful of appearances at the climax of 2004-05 with the club back in the Football League.

Hart then won many admirers after becoming the League Two side's first choice stopper for 2005-06 - despite being only 18-years-old for the majority of that campaign, as he played all 46 league games that season, conceding just 55 goals.

Hart's season was complete when his fellow professionals voted him as the League Two goalkeeper of the season for 2005-06 and just a few weeks later Man City completed the transfer of the exciting prospect.

The keeper made his City debut in a Premier League clash against Sheffield United in October 2006 but it was his only City appearance in 2006-07 as he was loaned to League One clubs Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool after the turn of the year.

He eventually made the breakthrough in 2007-08 with Isaksson injured and Kasper Schmeichel dropped and, after a succession of top performances, there was no way back in for either.

Hart was handed his England bow in June 2008 in a friendly in Trinidad & Tobago, just weeks after his 21st birthday and Sven Goran Eriksson described him as 'one of the biggest talents in this country as a goalkeeper' as Man City fans voted him their Young Player of the Year.

However, failing to maintain his place in the side after the arrival of Shay Given, Hart was sent out on loan to Birmingham for the 2009-10 season, where he will hope to cement his place in the England squad for 2010.