Darren Bent Trabzonspor Talks
The recent reports stating that Paul Lambert has been instructed to play the bomb squad players – including Darren Bent, Charles N’Zogbia and Alan Hutton – look likely to be empty words, if the rumours in the Turkish press of Darren Bent’s talks with Turkish Super League club Trabzonspor are to be believed.
Turkish Football.com taking its lead from native Turkish press reported:
‘Trabzonspor’s CEO Burak Gurdal met with Bent’s agent this week in Istanbul to discuss personal terms. The 30-year-old striker has one year remaining on his contract with Aston Villa.
The Black Sea based side are in the market for a new striker with both Henrique and Janko being linked with moves away from the Turkish league.’
The news makes sense on several levels. Bent is at the age where he will be looking for one final decent payday and a leading Turkish club would certainly pay him potentially more than a Premier League club would, now that his cache has fallen in England. Also, do you really think that Bent would want to ever play again for Paul Lambert after being frozen out by the Villa boss?
Bent wouldn’t be the first Villa striker to have a spell in the Turkish league, Dalian Atkinson played for Fenerbahçe in 1995–96, while Darius Vassell played for MKE Ankaragücü in 2009–10. Also, ex-Villa goalkeeper Scot Carson also had a couple of seasons at Bursaspor between 2011–2013, while another Villa one-season wonder, French winger Didier Six spent a season at Galatasaray in1987–88, a couple of years after his spell at Villa.
Considering Darren Bent’s wages and what Villa paid for him initially, this will certainly be one of those deals if it goes through, that is marked ‘undisclosed fee’, as the club tries to save face. MOMS would be surprised if Villa recoup any sort of transfer fee beyond a token gesture, if that. UTV
Also see – Darren Bent – The Fall of Aston Villa’s Most Expensive Hero to Zero
Bent didn’t exactly shine last season so I remain unconvinced he’s the same player he was. And he never had the work ethic required by PL. If he wants to play any football this is probably the right move for him. I would hope that any of the bomb squad who got called into the side would be professional enough to give their best, but for Bent he might have been told that’s not enough.
Not sure I have seen anywhere that PL said he had to play the bomb squad. Something about everyone being available for first team selection and a fresh start for some and how everyone knew what had been said but that didn’t apply now. All of the bomb squad however should be encouraged to depart as soon as possible.