Gerard Houllier walks into Randy Lerner’s office.
“I need a new striker.” he announces.
“Get bent!” Lerner responds promptly. The rest, as they say, is history.
When I first heard of Villa’s approach for Darren Bent, I’ll be the very first to admit, I baulked at the price the club were willing to pay to seal his services. It’s largely testament to how overpriced the “home-grown” players of the Premier League have become over recent years, with teams such as Tottenham shelling out as much as 15 million for David Bentley, a player, who at the time, had made just 7 international appearances and has now been forced to seek a move elsewhere in order to see more first team football. It seems somewhat absurd for a club to be shelling out such a vast amount of money when they could quite easily pick up a player of a similar calibre from abroad. For example, a player such as Dortmund’s Paraguayan striker Lucas Barrios would surely command a significantly smaller fee, while providing quality of a similar, if not superior, level to Bent’s.
If I have one glaring criticism of Martin O’Neill’s 4 year reign at Aston Villa, it would be his perceived reluctance to scour the rest of the continent for potential signings, rather than wasting millions on the likes of Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye, Wayne Routledge, Nicky Shorey, Marlon Harewood, and Nigel Reo-Coker, players whose impact at the club has been virtually non-existent.
However, one also has to consider the other side of the argument. Firstly, Bent is a proven goal scorer in the Premier League, with a record in recent years that is bettered only by Drogba and Rooney, that being 81 goals since 2005, at the rate of 1 every 178 minutes. Furthermore, Bent shouldn’t have any problems settling into life at Villa that a player coming from abroad might experience, being used to the style and pace of the league and not having the difficulty of being forced to learn a new language or adapt to a different culture. Bent is a player who seemingly fits the mould of the striker Houllier is looking for, a powerful and pacey frontman, whose all-round game makes him a real headache for opposing defenders. Of course, this role is one that could just as easily have been filled by John Carew, but that’s another story for another time…
One clear criticism of Bent’s game from talking to Sunderland supporters may well be his ‘Berbatov-esque’ finishing, the fact that he misses too many easy chances in front of goal. It’s a fair argument against such an extravagant signing, but Bent is the type of player who seemingly always finds himself in the right place at the right time and, as such, is able to conjure up enough opportunities that will see his name on the score sheet by the end of 90 minutes. Certainly, Bent will need those players around him to feed him chances, but with the likes of creative talent such as Ashley Young and Stewart Downing already in Villa’s starting line-up, I am fairly confident he will enjoy success during his time at the club.
In the days surrounding the news of Villa’s bid, the likes of twitter and various message boards were abound with people voicing their shock at the fee involved, quoting figures such as the €15 million paid by Inter for Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder, or £8 million Harry Redknapp parted with in order to bring Rafael van der Vaart to White Hart Lane, all in order to highlight the extent to which Villa were overpaying for the Sunderland striker. As fun as it may be for one to dive into the history books and resurface with such examples, these people clearly aren’t considering the many influencing factors which prompt such deals, such as the selling club’s willingness to part with the player in question, or the buying club’s level of need to bring in fresh talent. Proven goal scorers always move on for vastly inflated fees, while those in good form, such as Bent, are always going to command a higher fee than those players who have found themselves frozen out of the first team at their club, as was the case with Sneijder and van der Vaart at Real Madrid. One journalist even brought up the figure of £19 million paid by Manchester United for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s services in 2001, but they’re clearly forgetting how much people questioned that deal at the time it was announced, as well as the inflation of transfer fees in recent years and the fact that the Dutchman had only proven himself in Eredivisie and was coming off two major knee injuries. In no way was it considered a bargain at the time. Additionally, the 24 million that has been quoted by various media sources includes possible future incentive payments, dependent on the likes of international appearances and Premier League goals. By my understanding, as of this moment, Villa have paid Sunderland a fee of £18 million for Bent, only 1.5 million more than Tottenham paid Charlton for him, back in 2007.
Certainly, Villa’s move for Bent does smack of desperation, but let’s not forget that they’re a club in a worrying situation. On the verge of a relegation battle, after consecutive top six finishes in recent years, the team are in dire need of reinforcing a rail thin squad that has been held up by academy players since the beginning of the season. The consequences of relegation don’t bare thinking about for a club of their size and stature, and if Bent’s goals can somehow rescue Villa from this worst case scenario than the deal will almost certainly be labelled as money well spent. Of course, there is the question of what happens to Bent should Villa find themselves in the drop zone by the end of the season, as a potential England striker will unquestionably want to remain playing at the highest level rather than plying their trade in the Championship, but, as we’re only in January, that’s an issue that’s best left for discussion at a later date. For now, it seems somewhat naive to roundly suggest that Villa have overpaid for Bent, without the chance to see how his play could potentially ignite the club’s second half of the season, as Houllier no doubt hopes. The goals could well come in droves and Villa may eventually find themselves climbing up into the top half of the table before too long, in which case the doubters will be well and truly silenced. One’s thing for sure, I’d certainly rather have Darren Bent leading my club’s frontline than Sandra Redknapp.
“I need a new striker.” he announces.
“Get bent!” Lerner responds promptly. The rest, as they say, is history.
When I first heard of Villa’s approach for Darren Bent, I’ll be the very first to admit, I baulked at the price the club were willing to pay to seal his services. It’s largely testament to how overpriced the “home-grown” players of the Premier League have become over recent years, with teams such as Tottenham shelling out as much as 15 million for David Bentley, a player, who at the time, had made just 7 international appearances and has now been forced to seek a move elsewhere in order to see more first team football. It seems somewhat absurd for a club to be shelling out such a vast amount of money when they could quite easily pick up a player of a similar calibre from abroad. For example, a player such as Dortmund’s Paraguayan striker Lucas Barrios would surely command a significantly smaller fee, while providing quality of a similar, if not superior, level to Bent’s.
If I have one glaring criticism of Martin O’Neill’s 4 year reign at Aston Villa, it would be his perceived reluctance to scour the rest of the continent for potential signings, rather than wasting millions on the likes of Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye, Wayne Routledge, Nicky Shorey, Marlon Harewood, and Nigel Reo-Coker, players whose impact at the club has been virtually non-existent.
However, one also has to consider the other side of the argument. Firstly, Bent is a proven goal scorer in the Premier League, with a record in recent years that is bettered only by Drogba and Rooney, that being 81 goals since 2005, at the rate of 1 every 178 minutes. Furthermore, Bent shouldn’t have any problems settling into life at Villa that a player coming from abroad might experience, being used to the style and pace of the league and not having the difficulty of being forced to learn a new language or adapt to a different culture. Bent is a player who seemingly fits the mould of the striker Houllier is looking for, a powerful and pacey frontman, whose all-round game makes him a real headache for opposing defenders. Of course, this role is one that could just as easily have been filled by John Carew, but that’s another story for another time…
One clear criticism of Bent’s game from talking to Sunderland supporters may well be his ‘Berbatov-esque’ finishing, the fact that he misses too many easy chances in front of goal. It’s a fair argument against such an extravagant signing, but Bent is the type of player who seemingly always finds himself in the right place at the right time and, as such, is able to conjure up enough opportunities that will see his name on the score sheet by the end of 90 minutes. Certainly, Bent will need those players around him to feed him chances, but with the likes of creative talent such as Ashley Young and Stewart Downing already in Villa’s starting line-up, I am fairly confident he will enjoy success during his time at the club.
In the days surrounding the news of Villa’s bid, the likes of twitter and various message boards were abound with people voicing their shock at the fee involved, quoting figures such as the €15 million paid by Inter for Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder, or £8 million Harry Redknapp parted with in order to bring Rafael van der Vaart to White Hart Lane, all in order to highlight the extent to which Villa were overpaying for the Sunderland striker. As fun as it may be for one to dive into the history books and resurface with such examples, these people clearly aren’t considering the many influencing factors which prompt such deals, such as the selling club’s willingness to part with the player in question, or the buying club’s level of need to bring in fresh talent. Proven goal scorers always move on for vastly inflated fees, while those in good form, such as Bent, are always going to command a higher fee than those players who have found themselves frozen out of the first team at their club, as was the case with Sneijder and van der Vaart at Real Madrid. One journalist even brought up the figure of £19 million paid by Manchester United for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s services in 2001, but they’re clearly forgetting how much people questioned that deal at the time it was announced, as well as the inflation of transfer fees in recent years and the fact that the Dutchman had only proven himself in Eredivisie and was coming off two major knee injuries. In no way was it considered a bargain at the time. Additionally, the 24 million that has been quoted by various media sources includes possible future incentive payments, dependent on the likes of international appearances and Premier League goals. By my understanding, as of this moment, Villa have paid Sunderland a fee of £18 million for Bent, only 1.5 million more than Tottenham paid Charlton for him, back in 2007.
Certainly, Villa’s move for Bent does smack of desperation, but let’s not forget that they’re a club in a worrying situation. On the verge of a relegation battle, after consecutive top six finishes in recent years, the team are in dire need of reinforcing a rail thin squad that has been held up by academy players since the beginning of the season. The consequences of relegation don’t bare thinking about for a club of their size and stature, and if Bent’s goals can somehow rescue Villa from this worst case scenario than the deal will almost certainly be labelled as money well spent. Of course, there is the question of what happens to Bent should Villa find themselves in the drop zone by the end of the season, as a potential England striker will unquestionably want to remain playing at the highest level rather than plying their trade in the Championship, but, as we’re only in January, that’s an issue that’s best left for discussion at a later date. For now, it seems somewhat naive to roundly suggest that Villa have overpaid for Bent, without the chance to see how his play could potentially ignite the club’s second half of the season, as Houllier no doubt hopes. The goals could well come in droves and Villa may eventually find themselves climbing up into the top half of the table before too long, in which case the doubters will be well and truly silenced. One’s thing for sure, I’d certainly rather have Darren Bent leading my club’s frontline than Sandra Redknapp.
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