Joe Corrigan thinks Joe Hart would benefit from a move abroad

Former Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Corrigan has told Joe Hart to go abroad to hone his skills and retain his England place.

Hart's future at the Etihad Stadium has been thrown into uncertainty by new boss Pep Guardiola, whose search for a keeper with better distribution resulted in the £15.4million capture of Claudio Bravo from Barcelona umber one has since been linked with Liverpool and Sunderland - the Black Cats have lost Vito Mannone for a minimum of three months with an elbow industry - but Corrigan believes he would be better served by a spell in another country with the summer transfer deadline looming.

Corrigan told BBC 5 Live's Sportsweek show: "The way the situation looks, he's going to be going out on loan somewhere.

"I think he might be better off actually going abroad and trying to find somewhere where he can use his ability as a goalkeeper and learn the backpass situation.

"But to me, it's all about the team, never mind just about the goalkeeper, the backpass situation."

Hart endured a difficult Euro 2016 as he made a series of costly errors amid a disastrous finals campaign for England, and a lack of club action will do little to enhance his chances of persuading Roy Hodgson's successor Sam Allardyce that he is still the man for the job.

Corrigan said: "He's got to have first-team football. You can't expect Sam to keep on picking him if he's sat on the bench - or not even sat on the bench, as has been suggested.

"It will be very, very interesting in the next few days to see what develops."

Corrigan also warned 33-year-old Bravo that despite his experience, he faces a tough task to acclimatise to Premier League football as he attempts to justify his price-tag and top billing.

He said: "The Premier League is maybe the hardest league to play in, It's maybe not the best in technical ability - it's getting there - but it's definitely the hardest and especially for goalkeepers.

"It's going to be a big test for a foreign goalkeeper to come in. A lot of them have and a lot of them have done well, but when you are coming into a massive club like Manchester City and especially with Joe having the history of what he's done for the club, it's going to be very difficult."