Darren Bent - worth every penny

[JUAN PABLO]

I big pat on the back to Randy for recognising we were struggling and having the balls to go out and do something about it. Bents goals have kept us up this season. How many years have we waited for a top class striker (no disrespect meant to gabby).
It's just a shame we couldn't have got Bent 3 seasons ago.

If we had thou , we would be losing him this summer with Young.. 

[curiousorange]

I big pat on the back to Randy for recognising we were struggling and having the balls to go out and do something about it. Bents goals have kept us up this season. How many years have we waited for a top class striker (no disrespect meant to gabby).
It's just a shame we couldn't have got Bent 3 seasons ago.

If we had thou , we would be losing him this summer with Young.. 

I assume that's a piss-take, since if you extrapolate his recent success and assume he would have been equally prolific, Villa would probably have won at least one trophy and got further in Europe.

[JUAN PABLO]

I big pat on the back to Randy for recognising we were struggling and having the balls to go out and do something about it. Bents goals have kept us up this season. How many years have we waited for a top class striker (no disrespect meant to gabby).
It's just a shame we couldn't have got Bent 3 seasons ago.

If we had thou , we would be losing him this summer with Young.. 

I assume that's a piss-take, since if you extrapolate his recent success and assume he would have been equally prolific, Villa would probably have won at least one trophy and got further in Europe.

we will never know , lets see If spurzz keep Bale for eg now they are not in chumps league..  Even thou Im pissed off we spent about 8 million on heskey and Haarewood , when MON really should have got Bent , I think its a great time for us to have him . We have got him at his peak.. Important we get some creativity in the team esp with Young going.

[Colhint]

The Bloke is top effing notch

[hartman_1982]

The hardest thing in football is scoring goals. We have one of the few players that are born to do so. Shit clubs and teams can have a good defence in this division (see Blues) and if we can get the simple things right this summer, it scares me to think of what we could do next year with a 25+ goal a season man up front. Darren Bent - a legend in the making!

[gervilla]

He saved our asses this season. Probably the most important signing we have made in years because we would be sobbing uncontrollably like West Ham fans if we hadn't signed him when we did.
Thank you Darren Bent.

[Matt Collins]

It's a shame we've lost some of our better players in recent years, and will lose AY this summer. I reckon the following side looks quite tasty:

Friedel - Walker, Cahill, Laursen, Young - NRC, Barry, Milner - Young, Bent, Downing

subs: Marshall, Cuellar, Clark, Petrov, Delph, Albrighton, Agbonlahor

I reckon that team could compete for a CL place.

[Arsey]

I wonder where we would be now had MON bought him when he went to Spuds or Sunderland?

[ez]

Well worth the money. I bet theres a few clubs kicking themselves that we got in there.

[Somniloquism]

Well worth the money. I bet theres a few clubs kicking themselves that we got in there.

Well out of all the big money striker moves in Jan only Suarez comes close to being as much of a success and that is more for his general effect on the rest of the strikers then his own goal scoring.

[ozzjim]

The 3 he has had chalked off wrongly would put him on 20 league goals. Give him pens next season too, and he will be over that mark. 3rd top scorer in the league now.

[Ad@m]

A quick check here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Aston_Villa_F.C._seasons) has shown that we've only had a striker with more than 20 goals in a season three times since Platty left 20 years ago!!!

I think the only striker I can ever remember getting truly excited about was JPA and for all the effort he put in, other than the one season, it never quite clicked for him.

If we can sort out the manager I'm seriously excited about what Benty could do next year!!!

[The Left Side]

He is worth weight in gold, he saved our season and was one of the few highlights of it.

[astonvillan]

just has to score up the holte end now.

last minute winner please darren.

[eamonn]

Yeah, it's funny how his goals have largely come away. He's the one player who probably doesn't want the season to end. Worst-case scenario he gets tapped-up in the summer by one of the Sky four/five? and starts next season sluggishly, á la his form with Sunderland during his last few games there.

Not wanting to piss on parades but if Arsenal (who are crying out for a goal machine like him) were to come in for him for example and he knew about it...I don't have much faith in his loyalty to keep his head down here. Not that I think it will happen, but it's just another example of how important it is that we (a) sort out the management situation ASAP so the players aren't confused and discussing among them whether they'll be off or not and (b) We cut the chaff from the squad and bring in quality replacements, particularly N'Zogbia or whoever if and when Young leaves.