Birmingham City eye catcher Hart as Doyle replacement

May 15 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

Blues have been strongly linked with Hart on a couple of occasions now and it seems that he is, indeed, of major interest to the Blues boss.

Hart has been displaced at Manchester City by Shay Given and, with the World Cup looming, the opportunity to spend a season elsewhere on loan in the Premier League could be highly tempting.

The 22-year-old made has made 66 appearances for Manchester and earned his first and only England cap in the 3-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago in June 2008.

From Shrewsbury, the 6ft 5in Hart moved to Manchester from his home-town club in a £1.5million deal in May 2006.

Then manager Sven-Goran Eriksson installed him as first choice, but Given’s arrival from Newcastle United for an initial £6million at the end of the winter transfer window sidelined him.

A temporary move to Blues would seem to make sense for all parties concerned as Manchester boss Mark Hughes has a high regard for Hart, but understands that he needs more experience.

Manchester would expect a hefty loan fee, between £1million and £2million according to sources in the north west.

Taylor rejected Liverpool to sign a new two year deal at Blues last summer.

He turns 38 in September and despite having had an outstanding campaign in the Championship, McLeish would not think twice about putting him under pressure for his place with the right player or making him back-up.

Doyle, 23, made just one league start this season, following Taylor’s sending-off on Easter Monday against Plymouth Argyle.

He has proven himself in the Championship before with Blues and on loan to Nottingham Forest and Millwall.

But he had a tough time of it in the opening three games of Blues 2007-08 Premier League campaign and Taylor was restored to the number one spot by manager Steve Bruce.