Newcastle United fans should be delighted that West Ham United chose to keep Joe Hart.
Eyebrows were raised in January when it was reported that Newcastle United wanted to sign Joe Hart from West Ham United.
At the time, Hart, on loan in East London from Manchester City, was playing second fiddle to Adrian and, according to The Mirror, Newcastle saw an offer rejected by West Ham in the transfer window.
Fast forward a couple of months and it looks like the Irons did their North-East rivals a huge favour if that report from The Mirror is accurate.
Such is Hart’s unpopularity in East London, West Ham fans booed before yesterday’s controversial 3-0 defeat at home to Burnley when his name was mentioned via the tannoy, and the 30-year-old went on to have another terrible performance it must be said.
But had the Hammers signed off on the transfer in January, Newcastle probably would not have ended up with Martin Dubravka, who is going from strength to strength at St James’s Park under Rafael Benitez.
Dubravka, who joined on a half-season loan from Sparta Prague, represents a major silver lining after the botched move for the England international and, actually, Benitez probably saved the Magpies quite a lot of money.
The 29-year-old’s wages at Newcastle aren’t known, but it’s nowhere near the £125,000-a-week that their London rivals are paying Hart and failing to sign the Man City man is looking like a blessing on multiple different levels.
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