West Ham holding fire on Joe Hart decision is baffling

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A report has suggested that West Ham United are yet to decide whether or not to keep Joe Hart beyond the end of his loan spell.

According to a recent report from The Sun, West Ham’s decision makers are yet to make a call on whether the club will try and seek a further deal for Joe Hart beyond the end of his loan stay at the London Stadium.

Hart joined the Irons for the season back in the summer. Despite his struggles with Manchester City, and during his temporary spell with Torino last year, it appeared to be a very good move from West Ham – who The Sun reports is paying Hart £120,000-a-week while he is with the club.

However, the writing has largely been on the wall since the opening weeks of the campaign when Hart conceded 10 goals in his opening three appearances for the club. While the opening day 4-0 loss at Manchester United was always possible given the opposition and the timing of the fixture, the three goals conceded against both Southampton and Newcastle should have set the alarm bells ringing – though to only blame Hart would be incredibly unfair.

He was dropped at the end of November and only returned to the Premier League side when Adrian’s form was similarly disappointing. But the wake-up call appears to have had little impact on the 31-year-old.

In fairness to Hart, there have been some superb performances. The 1-1 draw with Chelsea undoubtedly brought the very best out of the stopper, but that only adds to the frustration.

He dropped a clanger in the 1-1 draw with Stoke on Monday, and the fact that David Moyes is unable to know which Hart is going to turn up is part of the reason that West Ham’s mind should already be made up and the decision should be to not seek any kind of extension to the deal.

Instead, the West Ham board should show their supporters that they do have serious ambition and target the kind of number one that the fans can perhaps put some real faith in and believe that they could become the long-term first-choice that rarely lets the team down.

It is, of course, easier said than done, but sticking with Hart beyond this season seems to make little sense after a turbulent year that has only really offered the odd glimmer of hope.