Man City Close In On Dutch Keeper

Manchester City have been handed a boost in their pursuit of Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer after he suggested he would leave the club in January.

Man City have targeted a goalkeeper in the transfer window following the loss of form of England number one Joe Hart.

Rumours a circulating that Hart may be allowed to leave on-loan to regain his confidence, meaning Manuel Pellegrini will need to provide competition for Costel Pantilimon.

Hart will start against Bayern, confirms Pellegrini

Costel Pantilimon continued in goal against Southampton on Saturday but the England No.1 will play in Tuesday's less consequential final Champions League group game.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says that Joe Hart will start his side's final Champions League game against Bayern Munich.

The England No.1 lost his place to Costel Pantilimon after a series of high-profile errors and, with a game against Premier League leaders Arsenal looming on December 14, the City boss intends to protect his current first-choice players in midweek.

Champions League: Joe Hart will be on Manchester City bench again

Joe Hart's hopes of a swift end to his misery at Manchester City have been dashed by confirmation from manager Manuel Pellegrini that he will remain on the bench against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.

The England goalkeeper lost his club place on Saturday after his mistake at Chelsea the previous week proved one too many in an error-prone season.

Hart could only watch as City crushed Norwich 7-0 - a game in which Costel Pantilimon had little to do - but Pellegrini confirmed the Romanian will start again when CSKA visit the Etihad on Tuesday.

Pellegrini delighted with 90-minute Manchester City display in Norwich rout

The manager was thrilled that his team continued to press despite being 4-0 up at half-time while he also backed Joe Hart after the goalkeeper was dropped from the first team.

Manuel Pellegrini praised Manchester City for maintaining their performance levels over 90 minutes in the 7-0 victory over Norwich City.

City cruised to a 4-0 half-time lead in the Premier League clash courtesy of a Bradley Johnson own goal, as well as efforts from David Silva, Matija Nastasic and Alvaro Negredo.

Arjen Robben delighted with Bayern Munich's 'easy' victory over Manchester City

While City manager Manuel Pellegrini admits his side 'played really badly', but refuses to single out goalkeeper Joe Hart for blame.

The Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben said that his side never expected beating Manchester City to be “as easy” as they found it tonight in a comprehensive 3-1 victory for the European champions who outplayed the home side.

Robben scored the third of the three goals for Bayern who had Jerome Boateng sent off in the last ten minutes with a straight red card. Robben said: “The first 70 minutes we played some terrific football. We were so dominant against a big team in Europe. We didn't expect an easy game like that.

Roy Hodgson backs England keeper Joe Hart but warned he will be watching him

England manager Roy Hodgson has backed Joe Hart despite his blunder during England's 3-2 friendly win over Scotland but warned he will be keeping a close eye on the Manchester City keeper.

After three seasons as England's undisputed number one, Hart is suddenly under pressure following an inexplicable blunder to gift Scotland their opening goal at Wembley on Wednesday.

"He was gutted," said Hodgson. "The first thing he did at half-time was apologise to me for letting in the goal.