Darren Bent joins Fulham on loan (Reply #486)

[Chris Smith]

I really can't fathom why people are so bothered by this. He's not part of the first team squad for next season so he's not training with them, leaving the coaches to concentrate on those that are.

Removing Lambert's decision, do you rate Bent?
I think while Benteke's future is a wee bit cloudy at the moment I'd rather that be sorted before doing everything we can to get shot of the other Ben(dtner).

Bent scores goals, he's not a great player but give him enough chances and he'll put a proportion away. However, you do have to play in a certain way to get the best from him and I don't think we are set up to do that. I suppose that it's possible that either we or he can adapt, but the odds are against it.

We're also not so awash with cash that we can afford to have a player on that sort of money as a bit part player so you don't give him any encouragement to just sit on his arse taking our cash. 

[Ads]

Plus you have to factor in that we have a young squad, who are potentially influenced more easily by the older members of the squad.

While I don’t think Bent is necessarily that sort of character, I don’t think Lambert wants to run the risk of any members of the squad providing a corrosive effect.

Out of sight and out of mind.

[midnite]

How is bentekes future a wee bit cloudy? He's a villa player with a number of years left on his contract and no club has out an offer in. He's as much of a villa player as he was 6 months ago.

[rob_bridge]

While I'm surprised Bent and Given have received the same treatment I was expecting for Ireland and Hutton, it does put the onus on the players to pressure their agents to find them new clubs. One other thought is that with Lambert bringing in several new players that indicate new tactics and attacking threat, maybe he is reducing how much info these two can offer their new clubs when preparing to face us this coming season

This is when agents earn (oxymoron) their money. When the players are off form and/or no longer wanted.
Anyone idiot can sell Bale or Suarez or whisper it Benteke or get them better contracts.

Time the said players respective leeches (agents) did some real work

[Dave Cooper please]

I think while Benteke's future is a wee bit cloudy at the moment I'd rather that be sorted before doing everything we can to get shot of the other Ben(dtner).

Maybe Lambert knows that Benteke's future is a lot less cloudy than the bed-wetters on here and elsewhere think?

[adrenachrome]

Blood was spilled in Brainerd

Words were said in Vegas

Shopping was done in Cambridge

[eamonn]

I think while Benteke's future is a wee bit cloudy at the moment I'd rather that be sorted before doing everything we can to get shot of the other Ben(dtner).

Maybe Lambert knows that Benteke's future is a lot less cloudy than the bed-wetters on here and elsewhere think?

Let's hope so but we have/will offer him improved terms this summer or he will be sold and so far there's not been a resolution either way.

[Ger Regan]

I think while Benteke's future is a wee bit cloudy at the moment I'd rather that be sorted before doing everything we can to get shot of the other Ben(dtner).

Maybe Lambert knows that Benteke's future is a lot less cloudy than the bed-wetters on here and elsewhere think?

Let's hope so but we have/will offer him improved terms this summer or he will be sold and so far there's not been a resolution either way.

Don't agree that it's an either / or situation. We're in a very strong position with him imo.

[Nastylee]

A) as mentioned, he's a goalscorer. Shame MON didn't buy him instead of Heskey when he was available at Spurs.

B) don't get some of the hatred towards the player. He has a decent record for us and scored some important goals, even last season (WBA).

C) The shopping incident: fans took this completely out of context. Some months later, Shay Given was injured and chose a match weekend to go to Dublin. Not a word was mentioned by supporters. The notion that an injured player has to sit in the stand and offer support is ridiculous.

Things obviously haven't worked out due to the horrible few years at VP but that's not Bent's fault so don't get the fans' negative reactions or the banishing treatment. That's all.

[Daholteend]

Darren Bent is a proven  goalscorer. His League  goal scoring percentage is .4143  Benteke  with  obviously less games   due  to his  age is .4172

Just a marginal  difference. I am amazed that no one  has  exactly  rushed in  for him yet. For a player of his calibre  his    wages  are not out of  sight.

It will be interesting  towards  the end of the   window  to see what transpires. Bent  has  had to  endure quite an unsettled period  with  the Houllier and then AM changes  and the   exodus of players  that  he had hoped to be playing with.

If we dont  sell him in this  window he will end up  costing the  club wages  in the range of  1.3 M  by January. High  cost  to pay  for a lad   training with  the  reserves and academy.

There is  an old  concept in business  that  you never lose  money  by  closing out  merchandise that isnt   selling  well. You lost ALL  of  your money  when you overpaid   for it in the first place.

Bent's arrival  undoubtedly  saved  us from relegation that  season. I think that the various managers  since just have never   been able to find a level of  quality players  to  help him  continue  scoring. However his cost may  be justified  by all of us   in the knowledge that we are still in the Premiership and looking upwards  again.

[chrisf]

B) don't get some of the hatred towards the player. He has a decent record for us and scored some important goals, even last season (WBA).

My son and I got the chance to speak to Dazza the summer before last. We were having a drink having just been knocked out of the Godmanchester Rovers tournament and he was trying out some new boots with some shooting practice (think he played there as a kid). He'd asked to be left alone but after about an hour of begging a club official let us past. We both shook his hand and thanked him for keeping us up. As I went to take a photo, I accidentally shut my phone down mistaking the power button for the shutter. Dazza laughed and was happy to chat about the tournament with my son for a couple of minutes while I restarted it and took a picture.

He's a bloody good striker and a thoroughly nice bloke. I've no idea why any Villa fan would hate him.

He doesn't fit with PL's plans so he'll be moving on. Nothing harsh at all about freezing him out of training it's just decisive management and I'm sure Dazza understands.

[silhillvilla]

Something has clearly gone on behind the scenes. You don't get Made Captain then demoted and humiliated in the space of a few weeks for nothing.

[dave.woodhall]

Something has clearly gone on behind the scenes. You don't get Made Captain then demoted and humiliated in the space of a few weeks for nothing.

You're determined to find something wrong aren't you?

[Monty]

Bent's personal goalscoring record is good but the statistics also suggest that, when at Tottenham (his only real spell at a club nearish the top of the league), the more goals he scores the fewer his team score overall. While there are many factors to be considered in this (Spurs were in the midst of a selling spree), the possibility cannot be dismissed that, in order to set up the team in a way which suits Bent's goalscoring needs, there is a sacrifice to the rest of the side's scoring ability. With Benteke and other modern forwards, the one helps the other - there's no trade-off. Teams that can afford what Bent demands are now, by and large, looking for a striker who will have a symbiotic relationship with the rest of the team, not a parasitic one.

[silhillvilla]

I'm not "determined" to find anything ? It's just my view on the subject matter which could be correct or could be completely wrong. Just seems odd he was made Capt. , stripped of it then couldn't even make the bench with Bowery being selected ahead of him? There was talk at the time that it may have been down to avoiding another £2m payment to Sunderland ? Again who knows? Bent and his style of play would have been known to Lambert when he joined us. His style hasn't changed on his debut for us he had 19 touches in 90 mins but crucially got the winner. Pretty much the same at Wigan last game, scored a great goal then barely featured. It's what you get with Bent he's made a career out of doing it.