Comments on: Is David Bentley Really Worth 15 Million Pounds?

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:49:16 +0000

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!

By: ossie's dream

ossie's dream — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:14:16 +0000

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.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:58:30 +0000

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

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:58:02 +0000

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.

By: Maximus

Maximus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:34:45 +0000

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.