Pep Guardiola raised a few eyebrows when he took Joe Hart on Manchester City's pre-season tour of America.

The 31-year-old's career has been in freefall since the Catalan manager's arrival in 2016, the European Championships that summer starting off a downward spiral for the former England number one.

After he was initially replaced by Claudio Bravo at the Etihad, things didn't improve for him in his loan spell at Torino.

Only three stoppers let in more goals than him in his season in Serie A and a further stint at West Ham did his reputation no favours.

When David Moyes was appointed, he briefly recalled Hart at the expense of Adrian, only to change his mind and drop him again, ultimately destroying his hopes of making Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment when he reached his nadir, yet Guardiola is at least doing his best to help him find a new club.

There's little doubt that Hart has only featured in pre-season so that the Premier League champions can put him in the shop window but it appears to have worked.

Hart is finally on his way 

Several sources, including Goal and the Daily Mail report that Burnley are close to agreeing a £4million deal for his services and that he will undergo a medical in the coming days.

According to the latter, this has inevitably involved Hart taking a sizeable pay cut. He will sign a three-year deal.

The Clarets have moved quickly following Nick Pope's shoulder injury suffered in the Europa League qualifier against Aberdeen. Tom Heaton is still yet to prove his fitness after 11 months out, with a calf injury hindering his preparations for the new campaign.

In light of those circumstances, Sean Dyche has turned to an experienced 'keeper who is keen to stay in Cheshire rather than move his family abroad again.

The irony is that Burnley were recently blessed with so many top-class options between the sticks and are now scraping around to get a deal done with a week to go until the new season, having initially appealed to UEFA for an emergency loan.

If everything goes smoothly, the club may choose to cash in on Pope or Heaton in January.