West Ham identify £12.75m-rated PL star as key summer target

West Ham are interested in signing Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart this summer, according to The Sun.

Adrian’s London Stadium contract expires at the end of this season and it is looking increasingly unlikely that Slaven Bilic will decide to extend it.

Instead, it appears Bilic has been given the green light to move for the England international in the summer, with his £100,000-a-week wage demands and reported £15million asking price not a stumbling block.

The 29-year-old was loaned to Torino in the summer after Man City brought in Claudio Bravo from Barcelona, with Pep Guardiola preferring a keeper with good passing abilities.

Hart did not fit that mould and was forced out of the Etihad Stadium and is expected to be allowed to leave on a permanent basis in the summer.

Darren Randolph has recently overtaken Adrian as West Ham’s first choice stopper but it has been clear for a while that the club desperately needs to bring in a much better goalkeeper for the long-term.

Adrian had been a fairly reliable man between the sticks since he joined on a free transfer from Real Betis in 2013, but persistent mistakes during the early stages of the campaign forced Bilic to make a switch. Since his arrival, Adrian has kept 30 clean sheets in 118 first team appearances.

However, despite Randolph’s impressive shot-stopping abilities, Bilic clearly isn’t convinced he can be his first choice glovesman beyond the current campaign.

Signing Joe Hart, who is valued at £12.75m by Transfermarkt.com, would certainly be seen as a coup and would be a marquee signing for the club during a period in which it attempts to enter a new era at London Stadium.

Whether Joe Hart would be open to a move to East London remains to be seen, but he would no doubt favour a move back to England over staying in Torino in order to remain in England manager Gareth Southgate’s plans.

However, with West Ham’s track record, signing for West Ham might just end Joe Hart’s England career, so who knows?

Adrian’s West Ham career so far…

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