Guardiola Admits Regret Over Joe Hart Treatment as Manchester City Tenure Draws to a Close

Pep Guardiola is preparing to take charge of his final Manchester City match against Aston Villa on Sunday, bringing to an end one of the most decorated managerial tenures in English football history. Ahead of that farewell fixture, the 55-year-old has made a candid admission — one that centres not on a trophy missed, but on a player he believes he wronged.

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, Guardiola addressed his handling of former City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart, a figure who was regarded as a fan favourite before being abruptly displaced following the 2016 European Championship. “I want to confess something. I have regrets. When you take a lot of decisions, you make mistakes,” Guardiola said. “There is one regret I have deep inside for many years: I don’t give the chance to Joe Hart to prove himself, how good a keeper he was, you know? And I should have done.”

Guardiola went on to acknowledge the contributions of the goalkeepers who replaced Hart, while maintaining that a different approach should have been taken. “All respect for Claudio [Bravo], respect for Ederson, when he came in he was important,” he said. “But in that moment I should have said ‘OK Joe, let’s try to do it together and if it doesn’t work then OK, we change it’. But it happened.”

Hart was dropped in favour of Chilean international Claudio Bravo at the start of the 2016-17 season, with the English goalkeeper making just one further City appearance — a Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest — before being loaned out. That departure effectively marked the end of his time at the club, having spent the majority of his career there. Hart had been City’s first-choice goalkeeper for several seasons and won two Premier League titles, two League Cups, and the FA Cup during his time at the Etihad.

Guardiola’s tenure at Manchester City, which began in the summer of 2016, has yielded an unprecedented volume of domestic silverware, including six Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and the club’s first UEFA Champions League trophy in 2022-23. City have already confirmed a second-place finish in the current Premier League season, representing one of the more modest conclusions to his time in charge following a turbulent campaign.

Following Sunday’s match, a city-wide parade is scheduled for Monday to mark Guardiola’s contribution to the club. After his departure, the Catalan manager is expected to step back from management entirely for an extended period before taking on an ambassadorial role with the club’s foundation. Manchester City have also announced plans to honour his legacy with a statue and a renamed stand at the Etihad Stadium.

The admission regarding Hart adds a rare note of personal reflection to what has otherwise been a career defined by tactical precision and relentless success. For Hart, who retired from professional football in 2023 after spells at Torino, West Ham, Burnley, and Tottenham Hotspur, Guardiola’s public acknowledgement closes a chapter that had long been a point of discussion among supporters and pundits alike.