So David Bentley, the right winger who many believe will be the successor to David Beckham, has signed for Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth 15 million pounds. But is he worth it?
For Tottenham, Blackburn and David Bentley, the transfer move is a win-win-win.
The former Blackburn, Norwich and Arsenal player will improve his game at Tottenham under the tutelage of Juande Ramos and assistant coach Gus Poyet. For Bentley, it’s a smart career move.
It’s also a smart business decision by Blackburn. Fifteen million dollars is a lot of money for the Lancashire side. Rovers can use that money to buy two players. Liverpool’s Jermaine Pennant is a £6 million target to replace Bentley, which leaves Blackburn money to spare to sign someone within the August transfer window (although a percentage of the Bentley transfer fee will be paid to Arsenal).
At Spurs, Bentley will join a formidable midfield alongside Luka Modric, Jermaine Jenas, Jamie O’Hara, Tom Huddlestone, Didier Zokora and Aaron Lennon. The club is now just a signing or two away from building an awe-inspiring squad (Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko would be the icing on the cake).
While there’s no doubt that Bentley is talented, I don’t believe Bentley is worth £15 million. He hasn’t yet produced the consistency to be deemed a world-class player. He sometimes drifts in and out of games, but when he’s on, he’s on — as we’ve seen at Blackburn on many occasions where he can score a goal or grab an assist out of nowhere.
Yes, Bentley has the potential to prove that he’s worth £15 million. In a few years from now, that pricetag could be considered a smart business decision by Tottenham, but Bentley still has a lot of room for improvement. Bentley has the perfect role model in David Beckham — someone who has the inch-perfect precision for crosses and free kicks. Bentley is more versatile than that, but it’s an area where the former Blackburn player can improve and to pay back to Spurs for their allegiance in him.
What do you think? Is David Bentley worth £15 million? Click the comments link below and share your feedback.
Spurs have been (in their recent friendlies) and are most likely going to play a 4-5-1 (specifically a 4-2-3-1 like Ramos did at Sevilla).
You need to count dos Santos among the midfielders, as he’ll play on the left wing, Bentley the right, with Modric the attacking center-mid.
dos Santos has been very impressive from the left wing in the friendlies I’ve watched online this preseason. Bent has tallied 7 goals in his last two games and most of those opportunities were set up by dos Santos’ work on the left wing.
I agee with the above comment Spurs will not play a conventional 4-4-2 as Ramos will use at least two of his attacking midfield players as ” Strikers” i.e Dos Santos and possibly Jenus as Modric will be the playmaker which they have been missing since Carrick left. The style is going to be very Arsenal like with one touch fast attacking football my only concern will be about the defence!
Yes 15M is over the top but its the price you pay to buy English. We should be v good in middle of the park. Could still use a d mid, c back and a goal scorer to replace Le Sulk. Exciting times at the lane, let the ramos revolution roll on. COYS.
Lennon might be on the bench this season or even sold off now that Bentley is there. It’ll be interesting to see what other moves Tottenham make before the end of the summer.
Does not half of the 15m go to Arsenal? Maybe that is part of the reason it was a higher price, to compensate for the 50% or whatever was in the clause when Arsenal sold him to Blackburn. Good bit of business by the Gunners there
It’s the going rate for homegrown players, I suppose.
Van der Vaart is reportedly going to Madrid for 7.8M pounds. Is Bentley better than Van der Vaart? No. But he’s English.
Silly if you ask me. But you have to look at Bentley in the context of other high profile English EPL signings – SWP, Rio, Rooney, etc., etc.
Darren made a good point about the sell-on clause that sees Arsenal pocket a good chunk of the transfer fee that Blackburn obtained. I’ve seen it reported as 7m of the 15m fee. That may indeed be the reason that Blackburn drove up the price.
Spurs were obviously willing to pay as they had just raked in a nice pile of cash in the Robbie Keane deal so it doesn’t affect their budget from that perspective.
As far as Bentley comparing to Van der Vaart, I’d say he’s a more consistent performer than Van der Vaart. Bentley’s always had a decent level of skill but he’s now blended the work rate and attitude to go with it. You have to give a nod to Mark Hughes and his staff for helping the player mature.
People have to keep in mind that these deals are negotiated. Just because some player is ‘rated’ as a 7m player, that doesn’t hold a lot of relevance to what happens in the deal. You can’t simply walk up to Blackburn and say “Right. Here’s 6m…we want Bentley”. Doesn’t work that way.
Either way, I hope Blackburn reinvest the money wisely and bring in a couple of players to bolster their squad. Maybe a couple of million can go into boosting their academy……nahhhh….this is the Premier League…they don’t do that do!