Hull, Villa join the race to sign Bent

HULL and Aston Villa have joined Sunderland in the race to sign Tottenham striker Darren Bent.

England frontman Bent was set to travel to Beijing with Spurs earlier this week but disembarked the plane when it became apparent Sunderland were interested in him.

Sunderland were expected to announce his arrival but Hull and Villa are willing to match Spurs’ £14 million valuation of the striker they bought from Charlton two seasons ago. Chairman Daniel Levy will now decide which bid to accept.

Bent was Harry Redknapp’s top scorer last season but was also out of favour at times and behind Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane in the pecking order at White Hart Lane.

Peter Crouch’s arrival, from Portsmouth for £9m yesterday, paved the way for Bent’s departure.

Redknapp, who is in China with Spurs for the Barclays Asia Trophy which gets under way today, is delighted with the options he now has in attack.

“(Crouch) has joined the club. He has had a medical and everything was fine,” said Redknapp.

“We now have four strikers as it looks like Darren Bent could move. I believe he is close to doing a deal with Sunderland.

“He gives us a bit of a different option. We now have four top strikers which is what you need at every club and so I am delighted to have Crouchy.

“He is different to almost anyone else in the league in terms of his size and the way he plays the game, so I am pleased to have him.

“With him, Robbie (Keane) Jermain Defoe and (Roman) Pavlyuchenko we have a good strikeforce.”

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is keen to add some proven quality to his forward line having already signed 21-year-old Fraizer Campbell from Manchester United to support Kenwyne Jones.

&Another player linked with Sunderland, Sedan defender Paul Baysse, has revealed he is ready to snub interest from Blackburn and West Ham to move to the Stadium of Light.

The 21-year-old has suggested the Black Cats are prepared to pay a premium to sign him.

“The wages on offer at Sunderland are 20% bigger than the ones offered by West Ham and Blackburn,” Baysse said.

“And I am attracted by it.”

Gordon and defender George McCartney are both set to return to pre-season ahead of schedule from knee and foot injuries.

Both travelled with the squad to Portugal and Amsterdam but did not feature.

“The lads will have been as sick as chips sitting around when we were playing some good games over in Holland,” Bruce said.

“But they’re both making progress and I would hope they can be involved at Celtic (on Saturday).

“When that game comes round, we’ll only be a fortnight away from the first game of the season and I would still have concerns about Craig being fit enough for the Bolton game – although he’s itching to get involved again quickly.”

Defender Paul McShane is likely to be out for three months after undergoing an operation on a knee problem which forced him off in the friendly against Darlington.

Sunderland have also been linked with Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, while also having a bid for Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole turned down.

Chairman Niall Quinn confirmed there were plans in place to add to the squad, bankrolled by American owner Ellis Short.

“We’re busy exploring a number of options at the moment and hopefully one or two of those will come off in the near future,” Quinn said.“Ellis has been superb. He has backed us and was behind the move to try to bring Peter Crouch to Sunderland. He expects us to be diligent in the transfer market and we will try to do that.”