Joe Hart dismisses accusations that Man City are signing Englishmen for the sake of it - 7M sport

Joe Hart dismisses accusations that Man City are signing Englishmen for the sake of it



Posted Tuesday, July 21, 2015 by Dailystar.co.uk

JOE HART insists Manchester City are not just signing Englishmen for the sake of it.

City have splashed out a record-breaking £49m on Raheem Sterling and another £8m on England team-mate Fabian Delph from Aston Villa.

Striker Patrick Roberts, 18, has also made his way to the Etihad from Fulham.

The club needed to boost the number of ‘homegrown’ players in their squad after losing Frank Lampard and James Milner at the end of last season.

But England goalkeeper Hart says nationality is not the driving force behind City’s summer recruitment policy.

"This club looks to sign the best players wherever they are from,” he said.

Joe Hart dismisses accusations that Man City are signing Englishmen for the sake of it
QUALITY: Hart says Manchester City have signed Sterling, Delph and Roberts because they are top players

"It is good for me that they are English players and it is good to have that at the heart of the squad.

"But I’m pretty sure we’ve signed these players simply because they are very good players.

"Two of them have already proved themselves brilliantly in the Premier League.

"We lost two really important midfielders last year in Frank and James so it was important we signed someone like Delphy.

"He is young but has been on the radar for a long time. He has come into his own recently.”

"And hopefully with Patrick, we’ve got one of the stars of the future as well.”

Sterling is set make his City debut today against Roma in Melbourne, but he will do it on a dodgy pitch.

The most expensive British player in history is set to feature at the world-famous famous MCG.

But the pitch is so bad that City were forced to abandon plans to train on it yesterday and boss Manuel Pellegrini admits he’s worried.

"I am concerned about the pitch,” the Chilean said.

"It is not in the best condition. They have already played one game on it on Saturday night when Real Madrid played Roma.

"That’s why we changed our training plans, but hopefully the pitch will be normal when we play.”

Delph only landed in Australia yesterday and will have to wait to make his debut against Real Madrid in Melbourne on Friday.

One player who could soon be on his way out of Manchester though is striker Edin Dzeko, with Roma keen to conclude talks when the two clubs face each other.

The Italian club currently value Dzeko at £12.5m, but are set to increase their offer today.

City still want £20m for the 29-year-old, with Arsenal also believed to be interested.



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