Pep Guardiola has told Joe Hart that he will not stand in his way if he wants to leave Manchester City.
But the new City boss believes that he can make Hart a better goalkeeper if the England international decides to stay and fight for his place.
Hart’s future at the Etihad has been plunged into doubt after he was dropped to the bench for the first two games of the season.
The 29-year-old wants to leave and has been heavily linked with a move to Everton, amid reports that City are lining up Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo as a replacement.
Asked if he would let Hart go, Guardiola said: ‘Of course. I want happiness for the players. I don’t want players who
don’t want to stay.
‘All the players here have a contract. If they decide they want to stay they are going to stay. I spoke with them all. They all know exactly what the situation is.
‘If they want to stay, stay and we will fight together. If they want to leave because they prefer to play every game – I am not speaking about Joe, I am speaking about all the players at the club – I want to live, I want to work, I want to stay with the players who want to stay. That is no doubt.
‘Up until the 31st of this month everything is open with the people who are coming and the people who [are] leaving. In September I will know exactly which people are going to live together, fight together, enjoy together, to discuss together all the situations that are going to happen during the season.
‘Maybe Joe will stay here and be a player who will fight with the other goalkeepers to convince me to play him. It’s simple like that. He knows from the beginning what I feel and what is the situation.
‘After that I know he may be staying, he may be leaving, the same case for other players. That’s what it is. Nothing has changed.
‘I am here to decide before the games and I have to be as cool as possible to decide the 11 players who are going to play. We are going to treat the players the same, from the first one to the last one to the young players in the academy.
‘I have a lot of respect for the careers of the players. They are with us, they are with me and I treat them like professionals.’
Guardiola insists on his goalkeepers having good passing skills from the back and has picked Willy Caballero ahead of Hart in the first two games. But he believes Hart can improve to the extent that he will become a better goalkeeper and win back his place.
He added: ‘I spoke with Joe from the first moment we met in China. I try to be clear with my players and I was clear with him. I have a lot of respect about him as a person and a goalkeeper. I know his value and I know his talent.
‘I was clear with what I was looking for. I am here at Manchester City because they contacted me to play the way I like, the way I grew up from 13-14 years old and I am here to try to convince the players.
‘I am obsessive about the build-up game. When you make a good build-up from the goalkeeper and the defenders, the rest comes fluently.
‘I said to him on the first morning that if he stays he is going to improve and he is going to understand what we want from our goalkeeper.
‘I met a lot of players in the beginning who had problems –I’m not talking about goalkeepers – and after two or three months or even one year became one of the best players in that position. That can happen.
‘But when Willy played these two games right now that situation is better. Today. But that doesn’t mean it is going to happen in the future. They have to decide if they want to stay or leave. And if he stays here I want to help him. And then every week I am going to decide.’
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