Torino goalkeeper Joe Hart penned an emotional letter to his former club Manchester City’s fans
City’s new boss Pep Guardiola had made it clear that Hart would not be part of his plans during his managerial stint. After City signed Claudio Bravo, Hart was the third-choice keeper behind the Chilean and Willy Caballero, prompting him to sign for Serie A side Torino on a season-long loan.
He started just one of City’s five matches under Guardiola, and the Englishman, who was City’s first-choice goalkeeper for six straight seasons, wrote an emotional letter on Facebook, addressed to all the City fans.
Hart wrote,”I just wanted to take this opportunity to address all the amazing Manchester City fans who have been so good to me. It’s been a difficult few weeks but that will never cloud the amazing journey and experience your great club has given to me.
Football is a crazy game and, due to circumstances, I am now moving on to another chapter of my career and I am very grateful that Torino has given me this opportunity to play for their great club.
But the feelings I felt during the recent Steaua Bucharest game will live with me forever. You can’t buy that and I will struggle to replicate them. So thank you for that and all the amazing memories.
There are many great people at the club behind the scenes and the club is moving in the right direction, so I would like to wish Manchester City football club, all its staff and players and of course the fans, all the best for the coming season and beyond.”
Former Manchester City defender Nigel de Jong is back in Europe once again after spending just half a year with MLS club LA Galaxy.
The 31-year-old joined LA galaxy back in February, but failed to settle down. Now, Turkish giants Galatasaray have signed him on a free transfer on deadline day.
De Jong’s contract with Galaxy had him poised to become a Designated Player at the end of the campaign, taking the place of Steven Gerrard, who is widely expected to retire.
According to data from the MLS Players Union, De Jong made $500,000 this season, and had he remained with Galaxy, not only would he have received a salary increase into the multi-million dollar range, but LA would have been at the maximum number of Designated Players (three). For that reason, Galaxy have let the midfielder move on.
After making the move to Turkey, De Jong told Galatasaray’s in-house TV channel,” I stayed six months in Los Angeles. I wanted to return to Europe again. I love football and I am a football guy. Galatasaray gave me the chance to return to a European atmosphere.”
The former AC Milan, Manchester City, Hamburg and Ajax player will be reunited in Istanbul with Netherlands team-mate Wesley Sneijder.
Regarding that, De Jong said,” I am very happy to be playing in the same team as him. He is a great fighter and someone who loves to win.” He added that he had called Sneijder ahead of the move.
Apart from Sneijder, De Jong will also be reunited with manager Jan Olde Riekerink, who coached him at Ajax during De Jong’s days there as a youth player.
De Jong’s time in the U.S. has been far from pleasing. He has been known for his rough and tough approach, and sometimes know to overdo it.
His highlights during his short stint in the MLS included his awful stamp on the Portland Timbers’ Darlington Nagbe which left his victim in a wheelchair. The former City star was also sent off for a terrible tackle on Vancouver Whitecaps’ Blas Perez.
