STEVE BRUCE EYES £15m DARREN BENT

England striker will break Sunderland fee record

TARGET MAN - Darren Bent

STEVE BRUCE DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY

Values and respect are key for the new Sunderland chief

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By MARTIN HARDY, 25/07/2009

SUNDERLAND have slapped in a club record £15million offer for Tottenham striker Darren Bent.

Black Cats chief Steve Bruce is now waiting to see if Daniel Levy will take a hit on the forward.

Spurs supremo Levy is not keen to accept less than the £16m he paid Charlton in 2007 but this improved second bid from Sunderland could tempt him.

Switch

Bent, 25, is ready to quit White Hart Lane, while boss Harry Redknapp is eager to start getting in new faces.

If the offer is accepted, Redknapp will go for Real Madrid's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar or Portsmouth's Peter Crouch.

Bent has told friends he has no problem moving so far north. He believes such a switch could revive his England chances with the World Cup looming next year.

Your comments

This article has 17 comments

Oh dear Brucie, what are you getting yourself involved in here, I agree hes a good manager whos made some astute signings( palacios, valencia & cattermole) however 15m for Bent is way over the top.

I've seen Bent at Spurs for years and hes been technically the worse striker i've ever seen. He has pace, but his touch is clumsy, and he can only run onto balls played over the top a la Wimbledon. This would represent a great piece of business by Spurs.

Bent and Kenwye Jones, a recipe for disaster if you ask me. These two will look world beaters against your Hulls, and lesser teams, but are surely what Sunderland dont need with the ambition of this club and stature.

I liked Bent when he was at Ipswich, I saw potential then, but he has regressed, and is not even a 10m player if you ask me. It makes Ashravin at 12m look a snip, and Ronaldo and Kaka great pieces of business, sorry black cats, you've got a dud on your hands here.

By pravstar.. Posted July 26 2009 at 11:17 PM.

I won't pay more than 6 million for him. In fact, I won't take him on a free transfer. You mean this guy is just as good as Arshavin?

By Solo Solomon.. Posted July 26 2009 at 5:47 PM.

You can have him for 15p. We paid way over the odds for an average prem striker and you are about to do us a massive favor. I never thought we would only lose £1m when he left us. Thank you Sunderland!!!!

By Ryan.. Posted July 26 2009 at 12:40 PM.

bent will be a good move for us as he will always get you goals and his pace from jones,s knock downs will make us a force up front. Go get him bruceeeeeee

By beebee.. Posted July 26 2009 at 12:11 PM.

Sunderland should have signed Cisse for half the price as he is better than Bent.

By Matt.. Posted July 26 2009 at 10:29 AM.

all those people saying bent is not worth 15m,and should buy someone else.why don't you say which other players,and then we can criticise your selections.bruce has a great record with his buys,and sells them on for a fantastic profit,eg pallios and valencia.cattermole will be next

By eddee chalk.. Posted July 26 2009 at 10:03 AM.

Why do clubs keep buying him. At this rate he's going to be the player whose transfer amounts beat any other player. And he's crap.

By pete.. Posted July 26 2009 at 10:00 AM.

Can't believe there are Sunderland fans opposing the signing of Bent. He's a proven Premier league goalscorer. You should read Tottenham fans oppinion's of the player because the majority want him to stay. Have you already forgotten the Dross we put up with last season, Murphy, Chopra, Cisse, Healy...etc?

By Mark Wraith... Posted July 26 2009 at 9:57 AM.

No other teams want Bent , including Tottenham . Why are we wasting our money ?? We can do a lot better for 15 mill for sure !

By Mauricr Price.. Posted July 26 2009 at 8:56 AM.

Sunderland have a lot going for them. Good stadium and facilities, big fan base, well managed and have backing from an American billionaire.

They are well placed to be a top 8 premiership club in the future I think a lot of players will be interested in going there.

By Steve Taylor.. Posted July 26 2009 at 8:27 AM.

How many players at Sunderland scored more goals than Bent last season and what are they worth if they were to be sold.

By davy43.. Posted July 26 2009 at 5:22 AM.

Steve Bruce knows what he's doing.
If its good enough for Brucie than its good enough for SAFC.
Lets go for it.

By Eamonn Reynolds, Sunderland.. Posted July 26 2009 at 5:21 AM.

aye that wil be right hes not even worth 10m never mind 15M get someone better in

By Rab.. Posted July 26 2009 at 12:26 AM.

What!! Absolutely insane!

15m for a out and out flop. Is it any wonder why the game is in such debt with ridiculous inflated prices like these for average players!

15m for Darren Bent......, Pathetic!

By j.. Posted July 25 2009 at 11:10 PM.

not worth no more than 7 million!

By jimmy davison.. Posted July 25 2009 at 11:47 PM.

Harry, take the money and buy Huntelaar! Bent can get his career back on track and we can have a top class striker come in for pretty much the same amount of money. Daniel Levy, its time to cut your losses before teams start looking elsewhere.

By biffontheshelf.. Posted July 26 2009 at 12:01 AM.

would be another good signing for Sunderland if it comes off 4 or 5 more including Chamakh and I think Sunderland should be taken quite seriously

By John Forcer.. Posted July 26 2009 at 12:07 AM.

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