Claudio Bravo’s poor performances last season allowed Joe Hart’s Manchester City reputation to remain untarnished, but he is now back in the spotlight at West Ham.
Javier Hernandez returns to Old Trafford on Sunday to face former club Manchester United, but there will be no warm welcome for fellow West Ham United new boys Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta.
Regardless of the venue or opponents, though, this weekend represents the start of a season in which Manchester City loanee Hart must prove himself again in the Premier League.
The tendency last season was to defend Hart after Pep Guardiola ushered him out of the City first team in favour of Claudio Bravo, who endured a wretched first year in England.
Yet that stance failed to acknowledge the England goalkeeper’s own shortcomings as he struggled out of the spotlight at Torino and also floundered at international level.
This season, surely, Ederson will perform to a far higher standard than that shown by either Hart or Bravo in recent years, while England’s number 1 is back to playing in front of fans who know him well in the Premier League.
If Hart sinks again to the depths of his displays in Serie A and at Euro 2016, along with a shaky World Cup qualifier against Scotland earlier this summer, there will be no doubt that Guardiola made the right decision about a declining goalkeeper.
For the 30-year-old, on the other hand, starting in Manchester on Sunday, this is finally an opportunity to prove the City boss wrong.
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