Berbatov recalls Bent watching Arsenal while at Charlton

Darren Bent said berbatov-level rivalry never stopped him from watching Arsenal in the Champions League midweek while he was at Charlton. He later became Tottenham’s club-record signing for £16.5million in 2007, a move that put his old habits in sharper focus.

Bent and Arsenal at Charlton

Bent admitted he was an Arsenal fan while playing for Charlton in the Premier League and described sitting in the crowd wrapped up for those midweek Champions League nights. “Yeah [I was an Arsenal fan when I played]. What people do forget is I used to watch Arsenal in the Champions League midweek while I was at Charlton. Sitting in the crowd, obviously all wrapped up,” he said.

He had already put together two solid seasons for Charlton in the first tier before Tottenham moved for him in 2007. The switch made him Spurs’ record signing, and it created the sort of contradiction football rarely hides for long: a player who had backed one side of north London before joining the other.

White Hart Lane move

Bent said the feeling changed the moment the transfer landed. “Because it's your job, in that environment the fan gets knocked out of you,” he said, before adding: “Oh my goodness, I'm going to Tottenham.”

That reaction fits the size of the deal. £16.5million was a major outlay at the time, and it came after he had established himself at Charlton rather than after a long run as a marquee name elsewhere. His father supported Chelsea, Bent also said, and told him he had to go to Tottenham.

Redknapp and January 2009

Bent’s Spurs spell also carried a second friction point after Harry Redknapp arrived during his second season. He said he scored five goals in Redknapp’s first five matches in charge, but the relationship cooled after a miss against Portsmouth in January 2009.

“It weren't great,” Bent said of that period. He recalled Redknapp’s reaction to the chance he missed: “That comment, the 'My wife could've scored that...' It blew up. It was harsh, but that was just Harry being Harry and he thought it was quite funny.”

He said Redknapp’s striker preferences were obvious, too. “You feel it. I think he bought back [Jermain] Defoe and wanted Crouchy [Peter Crouch] and I knew that he wanted Crouchy,” Bent said. Even so, he closed the book on that chapter in plain terms: “But we're fine now, and we get on now.”