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MANCHESTER. — Claudio Bravo’s Manchester City move has been finalised, paving the way for Joe Hart to leave the Etihad Stadium this summer. The Chile international’s transfer to City has been confirmed just hours after Barcelona confirmed the capture of his replacement Jasper Cillessen from Ajax.City have forked out £17million on Bravo following Pep Guardiola’s decision to deem Hart surplus to requirements.

Bravo said of his four-year deal: “I’m very proud to be joining Manchester City. I know the club is building something very special and I hope I can be part of many successes in the coming years.

“I have followed City’s progress in recent years and obviously know some of my new team-mates from the Copa America.

“It is not easy to leave a club like Barcelona where I had two fantastic years, but the opportunity to work with Pep Guardiola was too good to refuse.

“Now I will challenge the other great goalkeepers the club has and together I hope we can win many trophies.’

City boss Guardiola added: “Claudio is a fantastic goalkeeper and an excellent addition to our squad.

“He has experience and great leadership qualities and is in the prime of his life. He is a goalkeeper I have admired for a number of years and I’m really happy he is now a City player.”

And Manchester City’s fans must accept hard-nosed decisions like the side-lining of goalkeeper Hart if the club are to make progress in the Champions League, manager Guardiola has warned.

City’s 1-0 win over Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday night sealed their place in the competition’s group phase, but supporters used the game to voice dissent over Guardiola’s treatment of Hart.

The England goalkeeper, who is due to be replaced by Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo, was serenaded throughout, but Guardiola said he had been hired by City to make difficult decisions.

“I’m here to take decisions. I was honest with Joe, I was honest with the club, I was honest with all the players in the squad,” said the Catalan, whose name was also chanted by City’s fans.

“I have to take decisions and I can’t deny what I feel. When the fans are unhappy, I can completely understand that.

“What Joe has made in this club is much more than I did in my past, which is just one month here, and I’m pretty sure what I will do with this club.

“Because there are a lot of players who are so important. Guys like Yaya (Toure), like Samir (Nasri), like David Silva, like Gael Clichy, like (Aleksandar) Kolarov make this club like this.

“This club has just once in their life gone more than the group stage, to the semi-finals. It was last year with Manuel (Pellegrini).” — AFP.