According to West Ham United club insider @ExWHUemployee on Twitter, West Ham United won't be signing Joe Hart on a permanent basis in the summer.

What's the word, then?

Well, the Irons took the England international on a season-long loan deal from runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City last summer, but despite beginning the campaign between the sticks for the east London outfit he has lost his place to Adrian in recent months.

@ExWHUemployee suggests that has ended any hope that the 30-year-old could move to the London Stadium permanently at the end of the season, with West Ham instead looking to buy another goalkeeper to provide competition for their Spanish number one.

How has Hart done this season?

The Three Lions stopper started all of West Ham's opening 14 top flight fixtures this term, but he conceded 30 times and kept just three clean sheets with the team struggling towards the bottom of the Premier League table.

The 4-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park – where Wayne Rooney scored from his own half after Hart has rushed out of his penalty area to clear the ball – proved to be the final straw for David Moyes and the 30-year-old has only played on three occasions since.

All three of those outings came in the FA Cup, but now the Irons have been knocked out it seems unlikely that Hart will play for the club again this season – or for that matter ever – unless Adrian picks up an injury or suffers a dramatic loss of form.

https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/most-injured.mp4

Is it the right decision?

It probably is, yes.

West Ham would have hoped that Hart could be their first-choice goalkeeper for a number of years but he has shown few glimpses of the form and quality he showed for Manchester City earlier in his career, and the club are probably much better off with Adrian between the sticks.

Hart departing will give them another opportunity to bring in a new stopper this summer, and they could prove to be an upgrade on the Spaniard.