Welcome to Spurs Darren

By The Cockeral on the West Stand June 29 2007
During his 2 year spell at the Valley Darren scored 37 goals in 77 games – a strike rate of around a goal every 2 games which is not to be sniffed at in the heat of the English Premier League. At England U21 level under Peter Taylor he scored 9 in 14 games
Tottenham today Announced the capture of Darren Bent from Charlton Athletic



During his 2 year spell at the Valley Darren scored 37 goals in 77 games – a strike rate of around a goal every 2 games which is not to be sniffed at in the heat of the English Premier League. At England U21 level under Peter Taylor he scored 9 in 14 games following on from his 8 goals in 12 games at U19 level – again a sign of his goalscoring ability.

Darren will certainly add another dimension to the Spurs strike force and has qualities that Martin Jol highlighted when he said

“Darren’s strength is his stamina. Normally players will make runs three or four times in 45 minutes, he will do it all the time and if you manage to play balls behind the defence, he will be there.”

Much is being made in the media, and by supporters of other clubs, of the fee of £16.5 million being a club record fee but lets look at the Stock Exchange announcement made this morning.

Tottenham Hotspur plc is pleased to announce that agreement has been reached with Charlton Athletic Football Club and the England player Darren Bent, age 23 years, for the transfer of his registration to Tottenham Hotspur FC for a total consideration of £16.5 million (inclusive of performance related payments) payable in instalments over the next three years. The player's contract is for a period of up to six years.

The key part of that statement being the (inclusive of performance related payments) bit and the fact the fee is in instalments. If Darrens goals help us get into the Champions League that will be the instalments taken care of and will make the deal money well spent. And just how much of that price is the performance related payments part. Until we see the accounts when Spurs publish them that remains speculation.

One thing that we do know is that Darren turned down a big money move to West Ham which would have seen him on far higher wages and that says something about his desire to play for a club that he sees as going places. He is putting success ahead of personal financial gain and that is to be applauded.

Welcome to Tottenham Darren

Absolutely.

cannot wait for Bent and Berbatov to bang in the goals for us, many many MANY goals!!

Hope he proves to be worth the £16.5m, thats a lot of money, but if we get champions league footie, it'll all be worth it..!

C'mon the mighty spurs!

leo88 wrote:

cannot wait for Bent and Berbatov to bang in the goals for us, many many MANY goals!!

Hope he proves to be worth the £16.5m, thats a lot of money, but if we get champions league footie, it'll all be worth it..!

C'mon the mighty spurs!

According to A source, WetSpam and Sunderland have both locked in a battle to sign Mido for a figure of 8 Mil.

I've been guilty of it myself, but I think too many people forget Mido DID play well while he was on loan in '05 - '06. While he clearly misses regular match practice (after Berba came in), I'm sure he can do a job for both of those teams.

I'd honestly like to say thanks to Mido and wish him the best for the future and.... hasta la vista!

8Mil for Mido = Bent at 8.4Mil = BARGAIN! !!

Can't believe I'm saying this after the last 15 years of utter crap, BUT..... in Jol, Comoli and Levy I HONESTLY trust... savvy ? ??

I know where your coming from Jas. Our strong league position throughout 05'06 had a lot to do with Mido and our failure to finish 4th was in no small part due to his absense in the last few games.

Funny enough I preferred Mido when he carried some weight. He appeared to lose some of his effectiveness after slimming down.

However, I don't think he is the right man to lead us going forward, even as 4th striker. The game that sealed his fate was QF FA cup at Chelsea. Berbatov was superb but tiring so Jol takes him off for Mido. He was frankly awful.

Lack of match fitness ? Maybe, but that's his other problem, he is very prone to injury.

He is young, capable of scoring +15 a season and with the right amount of games his consistency could return. I'd be surprised if someone paid 8m. If they do it highlights the lack of quality strikers available, which is another reason why I think Bent was a good deal.