Torino president: Joe Hart 'happy to stay' beyond loan term

Torino president Urbano Cairo says Joe Hart is happy to remain with the club after his season-long loan from Manchester City, but says the decision ultimately rests with the Premier League outfit.

After 10 years of service in the northwest, Hart was deemed unsuited to Pep Guardiola's ball-playing requirements for a goalkeeper (a role otherwise known as a sweeper-keeper) in the summer, and was promptly shunted down the pecking order behind Willy Caballero and new arrival Claudio Bravo.

Since his loan switch to Italy, Hart has proved an instant hit with the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino faithful, despite a mixed bag of performances. Still, it's an improvement on having last year's first choice Daniele Padelli between the sticks.

"We have an excellent relationship with him," Cairo told Sky Sports' Nick Lustig. "He is happy to stay in Turin and we can work on it.

"It depends on City, but I think Hart would be happy to remain. We'll see what City have in mind and want to do."

Hart has been linked with a return to England with Liverpool - particularly following the respective struggles of Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius - but some reports have refuted these rumours. Sunderland manager David Moyes also claimed he'd turned down a loan deal for England's No. 1 in the summer, while West Ham United is apparently eyeing an approach at the end of the season.

One thing which seems certain, however, is that Hart will not be donning gloves for City again while Guardiola is in charge.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

"Football is a game of opinions and some people have a great opinion of me and some people probably think I'm absolutely useless," Hart said last October. "Unfortunately for me, one of the guys' opinions in charge of my club at the time wasn't as strong as it needed to be.

"Some people you struggle to argue with - they've got a lot of strong backing to what they say and what they do. It's hard to please everyone and I learnt quite early that that's never going to happen."

Since Hart departed, Bravo's error-strewn start to life in England saw him overtaken by Caballero in Guardiola's hierarchy of preferred shot-stoppers. The Argentinian kept a clean sheet as City strolled to a 2-0 win at Sunderland on Sunday.