Former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has opened up on the impact of not feeling wanted by Pep Guardiola and how it affected his mental health.
The former England goalkeeper fell out of favour under Guardiola when he first arrived at the club in 2016 from Bayern Munich.
The Spaniard instead favoured Claudio Bravo, who he had signed from his old club Barcelona, primarily because he felt his ball-playing skills were stronger to build from the back.
And Hart, who is now at Burnley, opened up on the impact it had on him in a conversation with the Duke of Cambridge in a programme called 'Football, Prince William and our Mental Health'.
"It will sound pathetic but it's the truth, it's not playing and not being wanted,” he replied when asked by the Prince what had been the biggest setback he had endured in his career.
"Things happened with the new manager at Manchester City, probably the most important manager in the world.
"He didn't even necessarily not like me, he just had a certain aspect which he didn't feel I was up to, and it kind of dropped from there."
Hart also went on to admit that his current struggles to break into the first team at Turf Moor is also tough, but says he is treating it as a "challenge".
"It's certainly the lowest point of my footballing career but it's not a dark cloud," he said.
"I'm comfortable with what's going on. Yeah I'm sad, yeah I'm disappointed that I'm not playing, because I know what I want to be, I know where I should be, I know what I can bring to the game.
"At the moment I'm not being picked, simple as that. You know, at school, not being picked...and that's hard. I feel like right now could be a real dark time for me, but it's not, I see it as a challenge."
