Bent relieved by Black Cats deal

DARREN BENT was last night breathing a sigh of relief after ending weeks of frustration by completing a £10 million (€11.8m) move to Sunderland from Tottenham.

The club-record fee could yet rise to £16.5m (€19.5m) over the four years of the contract Bent has signed with the Black Cats.

Such a figure would see Spurs recoup the money they paid Charlton two years ago for the services of the four-times capped England striker.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has confirmed it was the price that proved the stumbling block, almost wrecking a deal that has taken a fortnight to come to fruition.

With the saga finally at an end, Bent said: “It seems like it’s taken a long old time to come around, but now it’s finally here I’m delighted.

“I’m feeling relief more than anything as it’s been dragging on for two or three weeks and it was beginning to get a bit frustrating. But I’m here now and I’m looking forward to starting the season with Sunderland.”

Bruce’s desire to land Bent proved pivotal in the forward opting to move from London to the north-east.

“The club made a real play to get me; they made me feel wanted and that meant a lot to me,” added Bent.

“I know how passionate the fans are and how much they love football – it’s fantastic.

“There’s definitely a lot of potential here as the stadium and the training ground are second to none.”

Bent sees no reason why he cannot continue his impressive goal-scoring record that has seen him find the net 117 times during his career.

Bent, who was leading scorer at Spurs last season with 17, added: “There are no targets, but if I can score as many as last year and maybe a few more I’ll be delighted. The first thing I’ve got to do is earn my place because we’ve some fantastic strikers here.

“But I’ve come here to play football. If I can work hard and produce the goods there should be no problem.

“I’m a goalscorer and I don’t think that will change.”

As far as Bruce is concerned, he maintains Bent is “everything I want.”

He added: “He has 50 goals in 100 Premier League starts and that speaks volumes about why we are bringing him to the club.

“He had competition (at Spurs) of the likes of (Dimitar) Berbatov, (Jermain) Defoe and (Robbie) Keane, but he has still scored goals when he’s been given games. He’s something different – he’s got pace, power, he’s young, he’s English and he gets goals.”