Villa smashed club transfer record in signing £24m Bent
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Sunderland star Darren Bent on verge of shock £24million switch to Aston Villa
Mega deal: Sunderland striker Darren Bent is on the brink of a stunning £24million move to Aston Villa
Darren Bent is on the verge of completing a sensational £24million switch to Aston Villa from Sunderland
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The England international, 26, arrived in the Midlands for a medical ahead of what would be the deal of the January transfer window so far.
The Sunderland striker, who has handed in a transfer request to push through the move, was told the two clubs had agreed a deal after the Wear-Tyne derby on Sunday.
A Sunderland statement read: 'The club can confirm that it received a written transfer from Darren Bent following yesterday's Wear-Tyne derby match.'
Villa owner Randy Lerner has agreed to smash the club's record transfer deal out of sight by throwing his weight firmly behind under-fire manager Gerard Houllier.
Fresh from the capture of £7m Lyon midfielder Jean Makoun, the former Liverpool boss has now raided the Black Cats for their prized asset in a dramatic signal of intent from the Midlands club.
Houllier's record since arriving at Villa Park has been little short of dreadful, averaging less than a point-per-game.
But this show of strength by the former credit card magnate proves that he is backing the Frenchman as Villa attempt to haul themselves out of trouble.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is fuming that his hand has been forced on a player who has served the club well since plucking him from the sidelines at Spurs in 2009.
It is understood that there has been a cash call made on the Black Cats boss by the club's American owners.
Bruce spent £10m backing his judgement when he signed Bent, who was a reserve striker at White Hart Lane and now is set to turn a massive profit on the England international.
On the move: Villa are hoping to bank on proven goalscorer Bent to revive their struggling fortunes this season
However, it will make a huge difference to Sunderland's ambitions of qualifying for Europe and leaves Bruce fighting to maintain the Black Cats' hitherto impressive start to the campaign.
Bent scored his 11th goal of the season in last weekend's 2-1 FA Cup third-round defeat by Notts County, but has managed just two in his last nine games and drew a blank in Sunday's 1-1 derby draw with Newcastle.
He enjoyed a sensational first season on Wearside after ending his nightmare at Tottenham, and rewarded Bruce with 25 goals.
The former Ipswich and Charlton frontman missed out on a trip to last summer's World Cup finals in South Africa, the second time he had suffered the same disappointment, but scored his first senior international goal in a 3-1 Euro 2012 qualifier victory in Switzerland in September.
Bruce invested a club-record fee in excess of £13m to recruit Ghana international Asamoah Gyan to play alongside Bent in August last year, but it appears he now faces a fight to keep the pair together.
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£18m Villa move
OVERPRICE OVERPRICE OVERPRICE!!!!!!!!!!!
No offence but Bent is not the 18m price range.
I think 10m is a more decent pricing...whatsmore he is off form for now...
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Villa is desperate... They just drop into the bottom 3 for a short time and that could have been very frightening for the owner Randy Lerner that's why now he is willing to spend...
Now they realise they need to spend in order to stay in the premier league... But getting Gerard Houllier to replace O'Neill was a bad move anyway...
I just wonder how O'Neill manage to keep them in the top 6th for 3 yrs while having to lose or sell his star players every season... The Barry, the Milner the Larsson...
Oh well, at least now they will have Bent who is quite good I would say...
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24m? That's crazy............
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Actually $18m only but it could go up to $24m with all the add-ons maybe like won't see one lah... Qualify for Europa, finish top 4, pass CL first group stage... who knows right... lol...
But if it save them from relegation... Then why not? Cos Losing premiership status could lose them about $40m from Tv money alone, what about the weekly gate collection... In Premier League, you got more fans coming to watch cos got better opponents and also can charge more too... Drop, which they are in a serious position now, and they will have lesser fans coming for matches and ticket price will have to be reduce as well... So now is the time to spend. Cos their problem is much more serious than Liverpool's...
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the question is why would bent want to go down to villa? can't he read the table?
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lerner must regret terribly what they did to make o neil leave villa.
from fighting for a CL place to fighting relegation.
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bent?? £24m??
this deal reeks of horrific desperation!
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Originally posted by dukedracula:
the question is why would bent want to go down to villa? can't he read the table?
Looking at the team sheet, Villa is actually pretty good. What Villa lacked is a good striker who can score goals who they can't find.
I think majority of the goals in the last few matches are headers or scored through defenders?
Carew is off form. Heskey was never a goalscorer, just a targetman. Gabby... uh... off form too?
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Originally posted by zocoss:
I just wonder how O'Neill manage to keep them in the top 6th for 3 yrs while having to lose or sell his star players every season... The Barry, the Milner the Larsson...
this is why i rate o'neill higher than roy =D
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wah so despo ah....pay so much for him. 8m pounds more like it la.....
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It's way over-priced. This price tag is only because he's an English. Might back-fire real bad if Darren doesn't make it at Aston Villa.
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24M?
omg......
He cost 10M plus nia
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two such exciting transfer deals in one transfer window for villa?? omg when was the last time that happened??
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I think the price isn't as important to Villa right now cos they are in a serious need of a good striker and Bent is one of the better ones around... Spurs paid $16m for Defoe when he was about the same age but that was about 2 seasons ago already... So if the price wasn't attractive enough, the Sunderland directors wouldn't accept it so easily right away and even gift wrap it even though their manager might not want to deal...
If we are to look realistically, I think it's a good deal cos the actual price is $18m only and Bent is presently at the top of his game, 26 yrs old and he is also an English... Compare to others like Adebayor, Santa Cruz and a few others... I think he will justify his price...
It's only a pity Villa still have a poor manager... But I think the owner Randy Lerner must be quite desperate after making the mistake on O'Neill... Now he wants to make up for it by spending big in mid season before it's too late to save them from the drop...
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Bent a done deal as England striker seals switch to Aston Villa
New home: Bent settles in at Villa Park after completing his big-money move from top-flight rivals Sunderland
Aston Villa have smashed their transfer record in signing Sunderland striker Darren Bent in a deal which could eventually be worth £24million.
Villa are splashing out an initial £18m for Bent but additional add-ons mean the final figure could rise by another £6m.
The England player is in line to make his debut in Saturday evening's home Barclays Premier League clash with Manchester City.
The four-and-a-half year deal was completed today (Tuesday) after Bent agreed personal terms and passed a medical.
Bent's capture surpasses Villa's previous transfer record of £12m which was paid for James Milner (Newcastle) and Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough) respectively.
The 26-year-old moved from Tottenham to the Stadium Of Light 18 months ago and scored 25 goals in his first season for the Black Cats.
Bent has been less prolific during the current campaign but has scored 81 Premier League goals in the last five seasons - a figure only bettered by Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney on 82 apiece.
Bent began his career with Ipswich a decade ago and also had a spell with Charlton before a £16.5m switch to Tottenham in 2007.
He spent two years at White Hart Lane before moving to Sunderland during the summer of 2009. In total he has scored 128 league goals in 308 appearances.
Bent has won seven senior England caps and scored his first goal for his country during the Euro qualifier with Switzerland in Basle in September.
His signing will take Villa's potential spending in this transfer window close to the £30m mark after already signing Lyon midfielder Jean Makoun for £6m.
Villa boss Gerard Houllier is also still interested in Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam and is looking to bring in a new left-back.
Bent said: 'Aston Villa is a massive football club and as soon as I knew they were interested in signing me I wanted to join.
'The size of the football club and the history of the club are major reasons for me coming here.
'There are some top, top players here too, real quality, and I've been able to speak to the manager and the owner about their ambitions for the club.
'I'm very excited about being a part of what we hope to achieve.'
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i hope he can help villa escape relegation.
go bent, go!!!
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Bent's arrival might spell the end for either Carew or Heskey. We'll see.
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Originally posted by dragg:
i hope he can help villa escape relegation.
go bent, go!!!
yep, pls score a hat-trick coming fixture.. thanks hor.
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Originally posted by CKeer:
Bent's arrival might spell the end for either Carew or Heskey. We'll see.
I hope carew leaves...he's fast becoming another milan baros...heskey has done well this season...
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if they have given the funds to Martin ONeil, i bet AV will be top, rather than bottom.. or should I say, maybe...
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Originally posted by The man who was death:
I hope carew leaves...he's fast becoming another milan baros...heskey has done well this season...
Carew go on loan to Stoke
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He just scored. ;)
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bent is actually quite a consistent goal scorer for the past 5 seasons i think..
i dun have the stats to back me up, but i think in the epl alone, he scores more then the likes of crouch, heskey, defoe etc among the english strikers.
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yeh he is very consistent actually but 24m..........hmm. Let's see.