Peters: Joe's at the Hart of our plans

Last updated : 25 April 2005 By Matthew Gamble
Peters was responding to reports in the News of the World, which suggested Hart had been invited to train with Arsenal.

But Peters hit back: "That's absolute nonsense," he told ShrewsWeb, "Not that a lot of the Premiership wouldn't like him, people would like him to go there and train with them for a couple of weeks to see what we've got - we know what we've got and don't need him to go anywhere."

Peters pointed out that by joining a big club at such a young age, Hart would only be a third or fourth choice: "He needs to get at least 100 League games under his belt, if he goes anywhere then he needs to go there as a first team keeper and someone can pay over one million pounds for him."

By mentioning the 100 games, it seems apparent that Hart will be the number one choice for the forthcoming season at least.

The Town boss also said it was normal practice for clubs to look at any 17-year-old who was making first team appearances.

Hart was guilty of a goalkeeping mishap on Saturday, but Peters thinks this will improve the player: "Joe needs to play games, make mistakes, make good decisions, play well and get himself a reputation," he said.