Bent blasts Spurs ‘politics’

DARREN BENT has admitted his career had come to a standstill at Tottenham and expressed his relief at leaving a club that he claims was rife with “politics”.

The 25-year-old striker was unveiled by Sunderland yesterday as their record signing – the Black Cats say for an initial £10 million (€11.6m) fee with Spurs insisting that could rise to £16.5m (€19.3m) with all the add-ons.

Bent said the two years at White Hart Lane after his move from Charlton had been challenging.

He said: “I would say maybe my career stayed still (at Tottenham) but the second season I still scored a lot of goals. It may have been a hard two years for me but I had to grow up as a person and a player.

“There’s a lot of politics at Tottenham, but that’s Tottenham as a club.

“I’m a Sunderland player now and it seems a lot more relaxed here.”

He added: “I think just not playing on a regular basis was the problem. You play one week and maybe score a couple of goals and you still don’t know if you are going to be playing the following week. As a forward it’s hard thinking like that.

“Tottenham can be an unsettling place to be. They sell strikers then they buy them back, and they are linked with every striker under the sun.

“That’s for them now, I’ve managed to get out there, those times are behind me and I’m a Sunderland player now.”

Bent’s determination to join Steve Bruce’s side was such that last week he used his Twitter account to launch a now-infamous tirade against Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, accusing him of holding up the move to Sunderland.

The striker said at a news conference yesterday that his rant might have paid off.

Bent said: “In the long run it seems like it has done but at the same time I was disappointed at the way it came out.

“Normally we tend to keep our mouths shut and everybody does the talking around us. I just wanted to come to Sunderland.”

Bent joins three other new signings at Sunderland – England U21 striker Fraizer Campbell, who has moved from Manchester United, Albanian midfielder Lorik Cana from Marseille, and Paraguay defender Paulo da Silva.

Lucas Neill may also join him at the Stadium of Light – he is out of contract and available on a free transfer and held initial talks with Bruce this week.

Bent does not feel that being the club’s record signing will be undue pressure.

He added: “Obviously, it’s a lot of money, but £10m (€11.6m) is nothing compared to some of the fees being paid this summer and I’m sure that will be forgotten as long as I get goals.”

With transfer funds made available by American owner Ellis Short, Bruce has targeted a top-10 place in the Premier League, but Bent is aiming even higher to Europe, and regaining his England spot to add to his four caps.

He said: “There are a lot of good English strikers in the Premier League so it’s going to difficult but if I continue to score goals there’s no reason why I can’t get back in the England set-up.

“We all feel that we can have a much better season than last season and I believe we can aim for Europe.”