By Associated Press - Tuesday, July 18, 2017

LONDON (AP) - England goalkeeper Joe Hart joined West Ham on season-long loan on Tuesday after finding no way back into the Manchester City team under Pep Guardiola.

Hart was the first-choice goalkeeper as City won the Premier League in 2012 and 2014.

But one of the first decisions by Guardiola after taking charge a year ago was to send Hart on loan to Torino in Italy for the season because he believed the goalkeeper wasn’t strong enough with his feet on the ball.

Hart returned from his loan spell with no prospect of breaking back into the City side, where offseason signing Ederson Moraes and Claudio Bravo will be preferred.

The 30-year-old Hart will now be back in the Premier League with West Ham in the buildup to the World Cup in Russia.

“It’s important for me to play football and to get the opportunity to come here and play is absolutely awesome,” Hart said.

“It was a fun year and I did enjoy being part of Serie A and part of Torino, but I’m ready to come back and looking forward to being part of this fantastic league again.”

Hart, who joined City from Shrewsbury Town in 2006, can’t play against his parent club while at West Ham under the terms of his loan agreement.

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