Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 7y

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart joins West Ham on loan

England goalkeeper Joe Hart has joined West Ham United on a season-long loan from Manchester City.

Hart will join up with Slaven Bilic's squad for their preseason training camp in Austria and Germany. He could then face City in a preseason friendly in Iceland in August, although he cannot play against his parent club in Premier League fixtures.

It is the second season-long loan deal for Hart, who spent the last campaign with Italian club Torino.

"It's important for me to play football and to get the opportunity to come here and play is absolutely awesome," Hart told West Ham's website. "To be playing in the Premier League for a big club like West Ham, I'm really looking forward to the season.

"I've always loved the club. I think you'll struggle to find anyone, apart from the direct opposing fans around London, who doesn't love the club. It's got something about it, it's got a lot history and I've always loved playing against West Ham.

"We've moved into London Stadium and we've got Slaven in charge who I've spoken to and I've always enjoyed as a manager. He obviously did a good job with Croatia and he's doing a good job here, so to get the opportunity to come here, it wasn't really a hard decision."

City boss Pep Guardiola bought Chile international Claudio Bravo from Barcelona last August and has spent a further £34.7 million on Brazilian keeper Ederson Moraes from Benfica this summer. 

Hart wanted regular football to help him hold onto his England spot with the World Cup in Russia coming up at the end of the season. 

Press Association Sport reported that no clause is in place for the transfer to become permanent, and that the London club will be paying his £4.5 million salary via a structured deal with City that preserves their existing wage structure.

West Ham reportedly will pay Hart £2.5m in wages, and a £2m loan fee to City, which will then be paid by the parent club to Hart to cover his contract for the coming season.

Hart will join up with former City teammate Pablo Zabaleta, who left City for West Ham this summer when his contract expired. 

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