Report: Manchester City set to sell Joe Hart on cheap transfer next season

Joe Hart's season-long loan to Torino is not just a temporary absence for Manchester City, but a clear sign that the English keeper will not be a Citizen anymore.

Hart was loaned out on Transfer Deadline Day last week because the club was not able to find a team prepared to sign him on a permanent transfer. City asked nearly £25 million for Hart, and no side was ready to spend that amount and pay Hart's wages as well. City then loaned the player to Italy and agreed to take care of 65% of his salary, but they will let Hart move permanently next summer.

That's according to a report from the Sun, who says that the Citizens are prepared to sell Hart for a cheaper transfer fee, as well as give him a big severance package as a thank-you for his decade of services to the club. Hart is owed nearly £18 million in salary for the final three years of his contract, and the Citizens could pay half that amount as severance.

Citing an "Etihad source", the Sun's report goes into more details:

"City would be willing to pay him off around half that figure and also be ‘considerate’ towards his selling price. They are also willing to bankroll half his present wages for 12 months and revisit the severance situation next summer.

“Both parties are operating on surprisingly cordial terms.”

Hart deserves a big final payday for his services, but I don't like the "considerate" transfer fee. Selling the best goalkeeper in City history on the cheap? Yeah, not great.