Joe Hart: Sam Allardyce will name Manchester City goalkeeper in squad but warns it is 'critical' to play more football

Joe Hart will be named in Sam Allardyce’s first England squad later this week, but the Manchester City goalkeeper has been warned it is ‘critical’ that he plays first-team football if he is to avoid losing his place in the international set-up.

Hart, 29, is facing an uncertain future at the Etihad Stadium after being dropped by new City manager Pep Guardiola and told by the Spaniard that he can leave if he is unable to accept his current situation at the club.

Having made high-profile errors during England’s unsuccessful Euro 2016 campaign, Hart’s international position was already under scrutiny prior to his fall from grace at City.

But with Everton keen to take the goalkeeper to Goodison Park, Allardyce has made it clear that Hart now needs to consider his club future with Jack Butland and Fraser Forster both ready to stake a claim for the England jersey this season.

“Absolutely, eventually, in the end, it’s critical (to play regularly),” Allardyce said. “If it's a short period of time, maybe not.

“Then they come back in the team and everything’s goes fine, but f it goes for a longer period of time then I think its a difficult to select them, based on how they feel, never mind from a training point of view.

“Can they go and play at that level having not played for their own team for a considerable amount of time? It is a concern.

“Everyone has brought up the goalkeeping situation because Joe is not playing and Butland is injured, so Forster is the only one who is playing.”

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Guardiola’s admission that he wants goalkeepers to be comfortable with the ball at his feet has been cited by the City manager as a key factor in his decision to select Willy Caballero ahead of Hart.

And with City set to sign Barcelona ‘keeper Claudio Bravo, Allardyce admits he will seek out Guardiola for talks to discuss Hart’s prospects.

“I’ll go and speak to them about that – Pep and Joe -- sooner or later. Certainly when Joe joins us, because he’ll be in the squad.

“If I can get the chance to go and see Pep I’d like to listen to him anyway. Never mind just about that.

“I like the two full-backs coming inside. That’ll be the next generation of who is going to copy that.”

With Hart now battling to save his place in the England team, Allardyce is facing difficult decisions over other players due to their lack of match action so far this season.

And he admits Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford may be forced to drop into the England U-21s after being overlooked by Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford so far this season.

“There’s other people to consider as well as the European squad that went to the Championships,” he said. “There are people who have started this season who were not in the Euros squad that we’ve got to consider.

“I’m not going to say specifically say who they are at this moment, but they will all come into play for the possible squad selection for the first get together.

“Rashford is not playing now, so it makes it harder for me to select him, as exciting as he was last year and how he burst on the scene.

“At such a young age, do I say: ‘go play in the under-21s?’

“Get used to international football there, play regularly there and it will help you eventually, hopefully break into Manchester United team and then break into the England senior team.’

“You’ve got all those scenarios to consider.