Darren Bent

Darren Bent
Darren Bent.png
Personal information
Full name Darren Ashley Bent
Date of birth 6 February 1984 (1984-02-06) (age 25)
Place of birth    Tooting, England
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Tottenham Hotspur
Number 10
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2001–2005
2005–2007
2007–		 Ipswich Town
Charlton Athletic
Tottenham Hotspur		 121 (49)
068 (32)
042 (13)   
National team2
2003–2005
2006–		 England U21
England		 014 0(8)
004 0(0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 17:53, 30 November 2008 (GMT).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 20:58, 19 November 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a striker. Bent started his career with Ipswich Town in 2001. He made 121 appearances and scored 49 goals in the league for Ipswich, before joining Charlton Athletic for a fee of £2.5 million in 2005. He was their top scorer for two consecutive seasons and joined Tottenham Hotspur for a club record fee of £16.5 million in 2007.

He has represented England at under-19, under-21 and senior levels. He made 14 appearances and scored eight goals for the under-21 side, after making his debut against Italy in 2003 and has made three appearances for the full England side, after making his debut against Uruguay in 2006.

Contents

Personal life

Bent grew up in Tooting, South London, before moving to Cambridgeshire at the age of ten and playing for Godmanchester Rovers.[1][2] As a youngster, Bent was a supporter of Arsenal, and used to have a season-ticket at Highbury.[3] He was handed a formal warning by police in June 2004 after he was alleged to have shot a 12-year old with a pellet gun.[4]

Career

Ipswich Town

Bent progressed through Ipswich Town's youth academy, having joined the club at the age of fourteen, after considering a possible career in athletics.[5] In 2001, he played in the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup, played in the reserves and earned a professional contract with the club. He made his professional debut on 1 November 2001 against Helsingborg in the UEFA Cup and scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 League Cup defeat to Newcastle United on 27 November 2001.[6][7]

He scored his first FA Premier League goal on 24 April 2002 in a 1–0 win over Middlesbrough.[8] He finished the 2001–02 season with seven appearances and two goals in all competitions, and also saw his team Ipswich face relegation.[9] He scored the winner against Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Cup in October 2002 and finished the 2002–03 season with 18 goals.[10][11] The 2003–04 season finished with Bent scoring 16 goals, which was followed by 19 goals in the 2004–05 season, being the team's second highest goalscorer.[12][13]

Charlton Athletic

Bent scoring an 86th minute penalty against Wigan Athletic, which earned Charlton a 1–0 victory

He completed a transfer to Charlton Athletic in June 2005, which was worth an initial £2.5 million, but would have risen to £3 million if he made an agreed number of appearances for Charlton and for England.[14] On the opening day of the 2005–06 FA Premier League season, Bent scored two goals on his Charlton debut against Sunderland,[15] and was named the Premiership player of the month for August.[16] Bent was the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League in the 2005–06 season, which made him third highest scorer and was named Charlton Athletic Player of the Season award.[17][18] He signed an extension to his contract at Charlton until 2010.[19]

Bent playing for Tottenham in a pre-season friendly against Norwich City on 28 July 2008, during which he scored four goals in a 5–1 vicory

Bent finished the 2006–07 season with 13 goals in the Premier League, again finishing as Charlton's top scorer, but was unable to prevent them from sliding into the Football League Championship after seven successive seasons of Premiership football.[20] Charlton accepted a bid from West Ham United for him in June 2007, but Bent was not interested in a move to Upton Park.[21]

Tottenham Hotspur

He completed a move to Tottenham Hotspur for a club record fee of £16.5 million on 29 June 2007, which was to be payable over three years and is inclusive of add on payments.[22] Ipswich were entitled to 20% of Charlton's profit on Bent under a sell-on clause, which gave the club an initial £2.58m.[23] He scored his first goal for Tottenham in a friendly match against Stevenage Borough in their first pre-season fixture of their 2007–08 season.[24] Bent scored his first competitive goal for Tottenham in a 4–0 home victory over Derby County in August 2007.[25] This was followed up by scoring in the 6–1 win over Anorthosis Famagusta in the first round of the UEFA Cup on 20 September 2007.[26]

Bent scored his 100th career goal on 9 March 2008 in the added time of a 4–0 league win over West Ham United.[27] He also scored the 100th goal to be scored at White Hart Lane during the 2007–08 season on 22 March in a 2–0 win over Portsmouth.[28] Bent went on to score one more goal that season, against Newcastle United,[29] which he finished with 36 appearances and eight goals.[30] He scored 12 goals for Tottenham during the 2008–09 pre-season.[31] His first league goal of the season came against Chelsea, which gave his side a 1–1 draw.[32] He scored a header in the second half of Tottenham's UEFA Cup first round game against Wisła Kraków, giving the team a 2–1 victory.[33] On 6 November, in a game against Dinamo Zagreb, Bent scored his first competitive hat-trick for Tottenham.[34] He followed this up with two goals in a 2–1 victory against Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium.[35]

International

Bent represented England at under-19 level level,[36] and at under-21 level, for whom he made 14 appearances and scored eight goals.[37][38] His first appearance for the under-21 team came against Italy in February 2003, which England lost 1–0.[39] He received his first call up to the senior England team for the friendly against Denmark on 17 August 2005,[40] but did not play in the game.[41] His England debut eventually came on 1 March 2006, when he started against Uruguay at Anfield in a pre-World Cup friendly match.[42] He was not included in England's FIFA World Cup 2006 squad when it was announced in May 2006.[43]

Despite having played for the senior side, Bent was recalled to the under-21 squad for their October 2006 qualification play-offs against Germany.[44] Later that month, he was recalled to the senior squad due to an injury to Andrew Johnson shortly after the squad's announcement.[45] He was called to the England squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia in November 2007.[46] As of 2007 he has played three games and is yet to score.[47]

Career Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

Career statistics

As of 9 November 2008.
All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Domestic League Domestic Cups Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Ipswich Town 2001–02[9] 5 1 1 1 1 0 7 2
2002–03[48] 35 12 5 5 4 1 44 18
2003–04[12] 37 16 2 0 0 0 39 16
2004–05[13] 45 20 3 0 0 0 48 20
Total 122 49 11 6 5 1 138 56
Charlton Athletic 2005–06[49] 36 18 8 4 0 0 44 22
2006–07[20] 32 13 3 2 0 0 35 15
Total 68 31 11 6 0 0 79 37
Tottenham Hotspur 2007–08[30] 27 6 1 0 8 2 36 8
2008–09[50] 15 7 2 1 4 4 21 12
Total 42 13 3 1 12 6 57 20
Career Totals 229 93 24 13 17 7 270 113

References

  1. ↑ "Darren Bent". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
  2. ↑ "Bent in the frame", Cambridge Evening News (2006-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 
  3. ↑ Smith, Alan (2005-12-23). "Hell-Bent on securing a trip to World Cup", The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2007-11-10. 
  4. ↑ "Ipswich star cautioned by police", BBC News (2004-06-12). Retrieved on 2008-06-26. 
  5. ↑ Campbell, Joel (2007-10-31). "I'm bigger than racism", Voice Online. Retrieved on 2007-11-10. 
  6. ↑ "UEFA Cup - Round 2 second leg - KO 19:45". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  7. ↑ "English League Cup - Round 4 - KO 19:45". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  8. ↑ "English Premier - KO 19:45". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Ipswich 2001/2002 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
  10. ↑ "UEFA Cup - Round 2 first leg - KO 19:45". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  11. ↑ "Darren Bent". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Ipswich 2003/2004 player appearances", Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Ipswich 2004/2005 player appearances", Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  14. ↑ "Bent signs for Charlton", Ipswich Town F.C. (2005-06-01). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  15. ↑ "Sunderland 1-3 Charlton", BBC Sport (2005-08-13). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  16. ↑ "Bent is August's Premiership pick", BBC Sport (2005-09-09). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  17. ↑ "Premier League Top Scorers - 2005/06". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  18. ↑ "Bent: I'll miss fantastic fans", Charlton Athletic F.C. (2007-06-29). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  19. ↑ "Bent pens four-year Charlton deal", BBC Sport (2006-07-18). Retrieved on 2007-06-29. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Charlton 2006/2007 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  21. ↑ "Spurs new favourites to land Bent", BBC Sport (2007-06-15). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  22. ↑ "Bent makes £16.5m Tottenham move", BBC Sport (2007-06-29). Retrieved on 2007-06-29. 
  23. ↑ "Darren departs in record deal", Charlton Athletic FC (2007-06-29). Retrieved on 2007-06-29. 
  24. ↑ "Bent scores in Spurs friendly win", BBC Sport (2007-07-07). Retrieved on 2007-07-07. 
  25. ↑ "Tottenham 4-0 Derby", BBC Sport (2007-08-18). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  26. ↑ "Tottenham 6-1 A Famagusta", BBC Sport (2007-09-20). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  27. ↑ "Tottenham's Darren Bent joy at 100th goal", The Daily Telegraph (2008-03-10). Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  28. ↑ Hughes, Ian (2008-03-22). "Tottenham 2-0 Portsmouth", BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-03-22. 
  29. ↑ Hughes, Ian (2008-03-30). "Tottenham 1-4 Newcastle", BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Tottenham 2007/2008 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-08-13.
  31. ↑ Blin, Stef (2008-08-13). "Tottenham manager Juande Ramos facing striker crisis", The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  32. ↑ Sanghera, Mandeep (2008-08-31). "Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham", BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-08-31. 
  33. ↑ Dawkes, Phil (2008-09-18). "Tottenham 2-1 Wisla Krakow", BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-09-18. 
  34. ↑ Jacob, Gary (2008-11-07). "Hat-trick from electric Darren Bent has Dynamo powerless", Times Online. Retrieved on 2008-11-07. 
  35. ↑ Dawkes, Phil (2008-11-09). "Man City 1-2 Tottenham", BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-11-10. 
  36. ↑ Emmerson, Gary (2002-04-25). "Teenage boost to Ipswich dreams", The Independent. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  37. ↑ "England U21 Caps, 1976-present". The FA. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  38. ↑ "England U21 Scorers, 1976-2005". The FA. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  39. ↑ "U21s frozen out in Tuscany", The FA (2003-02-11). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  40. ↑ "Bent replaces Johnson for England", BBC Sport (2005-08-14). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  41. ↑ "Bent 'will improve with England'", BBC Sport (2005-08-18). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  42. ↑ "England 2-1 Uruguay", The FA (2006-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  43. ↑ "Walcott & Lennon in England squad", BBC Sport (2006-05-08). Retrieved on 2007-12-03. 
  44. ↑ "Woodgate close to England recall", BBC Sport (2006-10-02). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  45. ↑ "Round-up: Johnson blow for England", The Daily Telegraph (2006-10-04). Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  46. ↑ "Bent drafted in for Croatia clash", BBC Sport (2007-11-18). Retrieved on 2007-11-18. 
  47. ↑ "England Players -". England Football Online. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  48. ↑ "Ipswich 2002/2003 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
  49. ↑ "Charlton 2005/2006 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.
  50. ↑ "Tottenham 2008/2009 player appearances". Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-11-10.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Luke Young		 Charlton Athletic F.C. captain
2006–2007		 Succeeded by
Andy Reid
Awards
Preceded by
Luke Young		 Charlton Athletic F.C.
Fans' Player of the Year
2005-2006		 Succeeded by
Scott Carson
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – current squad

1 Gomes • 2 Hutton • 3 Bale • 4 Zokora • 5 Bentley • 6 Huddlestone • 7 Lennon • 8 Jenas • 9 Pavlyuchenko • 10 Bent • 11 Gilberto • 13 Stalteri • 14 Modrić • 15 Ghaly • 16 Gunter • 17 Giovani • 18 Campbell • 19 Taarabt • 20 Dawson • 21 César • 22 Ćorluka • 23 Boateng • 24 O'Hara • 26 King • 27 Alnwick • 32 Assou-Ekotto • 33 Rocha • 39 Woodgate • Manager: Redknapp