Football
Richard Jolly, ESPN.com writer 9y

Manuel Pellegrini expects Joe Hart, James Miner to sign Man City deals

Manuel Pellegrini has hailed Joe Hart is the "best goalkeeper in England" as Manchester City's No. 1 and James Milner are set to sign contract extensions.

The City manager says the England internationals are "close" to committing their futures to the club, and expects both to finalise deals in the coming days.

Hart, who joined from Shrewsbury in 2006, and Milner, a 2010 signing from Aston Villa, will become the seventh and eighth City players to sign long-term contract extensions in 2014.

"[Joe is] very close," Pellegrini said in a news conference. "As you know, Joe wants to stay here. We also want him to be our goalkeeper so I hope it will be ready as soon as possible. I don't think that we are going to have any problems.

"I hope that Milner will also sign. The same as Joe: in the next days. I don't know [in] how many days we can have this as official news. I suppose that he will sign and continue here because he also wants to stay."

Milner's current contract expires next summer and the 28-year-old had been reluctant to commit to a new deal after starting infrequently last season.

However, the midfielder has already made 22 appearances in the current campaign as he has played a greater part in Pellegrini's plans.

Meanwhile, 27-year-old Hart was out of the side 12 months ago after being dropped after making a series of errors.

But now he is keeping Willy Caballero -- Pellegrini's goalkeeper while at Malaga -- out of the side, and the Chilean believes his first choice ranks above David de Gea, Thibaut Courtois and Hugo Lloris as the Premier League's finest.

"I think that Joe is the best goalkeeper in England," he said. "He is [at] a very good performance [level] in this moment. In a squad we need two good goalkeepers and I repeat that the best way to have a good performance is to have good competition behind.

"Joe is a great professional. Maybe for some parts of last year for different reasons, his performance was not the performance we all know he can have. I think he understands perfectly in that moment.

"He continues working harder and he has also a very good goalkeeping coach in Xabi Mancisidor. So he works with him every day. He is a great professional and I am very happy with him."

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