Just when you thought Joe Hart was dead and buried… the man keeps on crawling back.
After being effectively banished to the international wilderness by Gareth Southgate prior to the World Cup and defamed by Pep Guardiola, many expected Hart’s career to crash and burn.
A move to Burnley when the Clarets already boasted two excellent goalkeepers in Nick Pope and Tom Heaton then raised a few eyebrows.
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But Hart, capitalising on injuries to the other two shot stoppers, has quietly gone about his business to become a bit of a fantasy football success story.
So far only three goalkepers – Wayne Hennessey, Alisson and Ederson – have outscored Hart’s 19 Dream Team points so far.
He also averages 3.2 points per game, more than both David De Gea and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
But most pertinently, despite receiving just 4.5% of the overall selection, Hart has been picked by three of the top 10 highest scoring Dream Team managers so far this season.
Only Alisson (four) makes more appearances in the top 10.
Burnley’s form has been patchy at best but even when the results have been poor, Hart has stood up the challenge.
In the 2-0 defeat to Man United he still registered five points after saving Paul Pogba’s penalty and producing a string of other fine saves.
He then kept his second clean sheet of the season against Bournemouth at the weekend.
Perhaps his most obvious Dream Team asset is his price, with Hart still priced at just £1.6m.
That is almost nearly £3m cheaper than Liverpool stopper Alisson, meaning funds are freed up to spend on bigger points scorers elsewhere.
He might not be catching Southgate’s eye, but Hart is proving his worth to Dream Team managers against all odds.
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