Darren Bent admits West Ham flew him back early from holiday to try and sign him in 2007. But the ex-England striker ended up joining Tottenham thanks to the over-eager Hammers owners.
Having begun his career with Ipswich Town, Bent made a name for himself in the Premier League for Charlton under manager Alan Curbishley. He scored 22 goals in all competitions during the 2005/06 campaign, but his 13 league goals the following season couldn’t help his side avoid relegation.
In the summer of 2007, the striker sought a move back to the top flight and whilst on holiday in Miami, he was approached by West Ham, managed by Curbishley. Bent says the club paid for him to fly back from his break early. However, things didn’t work out in east London, so Bent instead landed in the north of the capital with Spurs, signing for a then-club record £16.5million.
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Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Bent said: “It was a really hard decision for me. Curbishley was the manager at West Ham. I flew back from Miami early, which was paid for, and went to West Ham’s stadium to meet Curbs.
“He was on my case all summer saying, ‘Benty, Charlton have just gone down, you know me, this football club, just come, fly back early.’ I went, ‘For you Curbs, I’ll come back early.’
“They were owned at the time by those Icelandic owners (Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson and Eggert Magnusson). They were throwing money around like it was going out of fashion. The wages they were throwing around were like…
“But there was a reason why I turned it down. So I flew back, I was tired and I almost said to Curbs, ‘Just give me 24 hours to go back and have a conversation with my dad.’ Because Spurs were there as well.
“In terms of football decisions, from the very start, I’ve always had a conversation with my dad. Anyway, we got shown around West Ham’s stadium and stuff but then I said to the owner, ‘Just give me 24 hours to think about it, I’m tired, I’ve just come back from Miami.’
“He was like, ‘No, you either sign now or you can forget it.’ He was quite, not agitated, but he wanted the deal done now. I was like, ‘Relax, let me think about it.’ That kind of put me and my dad off. When we left there, he was messaging my agent saying, ‘No, the deal is off if he doesn’t want to commit now.’ All of this. In the end, that just put me off.
View 2 ImagesBent arrived in north London the same summer as Gareth Bale(Image: Getty)
“I remember having a conversation with Curbs, saying, ‘Listen, you know how much I respect you and want to play for you again, but that’s put me off. That’s not okay, so I’m going to go to Tottenham.’ That’s why I ended up going to Spurs.”
Bent’s time at White Hart Lane was topsy-turvy. He scored 18 goals in 60 Premier League games across two seasons, but often found himself on the bench. He left the club in 2009 for Sunderland, where he thrived, and went on to play for Aston Villa, Fulham, Brighton, Derby County and Burton Albion before calling it quits in 2019.
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