Darren Bent Available

[chicago_shearer]

I hope this is rubbish, because bidding for Bent would be such a waste of time.  They will want a) probably more than we have to spend and b) certainly more than we can afford given the priorities of the squad.

 

Not every transfer window has to mean spending millions on a flashy new striker.  Martins, Owen, Ameobi, Sibierski & Dyer might not be the best strikeforce in Europe, but it isn't bad.  Are people just not noticing that we have no defenders and maybe two fit midfielders?  And that the ones we do have rarely play well when the can be bothered to play at all?

 

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

From Sunday Mirror

 

POOL JOIN BENT HUNT

Exclusive by Simon Mullock

LIVERPOOL have joined the race to sign Charlton's £15million-rated Darren Bent.

 

Anfield boss Rafa Benitez can raise funds for a bid by selling Craig Bellamy to Aston Villa for £9m, and is ready to rival champions Chelsea for Bent's services.

 

Charlton want big money for Bent, and Benitez will have to sell if he wants to make a serious move.

 

Newcastle are still in the hunt for Peter Crouch and are ready to pay £12m for the England striker if he relents in his determination to remain at Anfield.

 

 

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

From Sunday Mirror

 

POOL JOIN BENT HUNT

Exclusive by Simon Mullock

LIVERPOOL have joined the race to sign Charlton's £15million-rated Darren Bent.

 

Anfield boss Rafa Benitez can raise funds for a bid by selling Craig Bellamy to Aston Villa for £9m, and is ready to rival champions Chelsea for Bent's services.

 

Charlton want big money for Bent, and Benitez will have to sell if he wants to make a serious move.

 

Newcastle are still in the hunt for Peter Crouch and are ready to pay £12m for the England striker if he relents in his determination to remain at Anfield.

 

 

Don't believe Liverpool are after him, they're rather skint and have higher concerns than a striker.

 

And Bellamy wouldn't go to Villa.

[Baggio]

Pardew: We need Bent's goals

 

By GARY PAYNE

January 08, 2007

 

ALAN PARDEW has made a dramatic U-turn and insisted Darren Bent is staying at Charlton until the end of the season.

 

Addicks boss Pards revealed last week he would listen to offers for his crocked 11-goal top scorer in this month’s transfer window.

 

He even quoted Chelsea a staggering £18million for the 22-year-old hitman — as exclusively revealed in SunSport.

 

But after Charlton were dumped out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Pards admitted he is banking on Bent to save his skin.

 

Pardew said: “I merely said if his injury isn’t clearing up how we think it is, then it might be a problem for me to keep him because I want to keep Charlton in the Premiership.

 

“The good news is Darren’s injury seems to be clearing up faster than we thought.

 

“So Darren will stay here until the end of the year.

 

“We feel a lot more optimistic he’s going to return within three or four weeks, rather than six or seven.”

 

Despite a slight change in their fortunes when Pardew took over on Boxing Day, Charlton’s season sunk to a new low with defeat at Forest.

 

He added: “The spine of the team needs to be strengthened.

 

“Every team needs a strong spine if you’re going to have any success. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that.

 

“I’m going to have to be a little bit clever, perhaps look a little bit left-field to try and improve the team. We haven’t got the funds West Ham and one or two other clubs down at the bottom have.

 

“Some players can help you grow, give everyone a lift and that’s the sort we need.”

 

Amazingly, Pardew could be responsible for two sides going down this season — he left the Hammers with the club stuck in the relegation zone.

 

But keeper Thomas Myhre says Charlton have not pushed the panic button — yet.

 

He said: “Alan coming in has been a breath of fresh air.

 

“The directions given to us were clear, even though it may not have looked like that against Forest.

 

“That we didn’t do it on the pitch is not his fault.

 

“The atmosphere in the changing room is good and we are optimistic we can get out of the position we’re in.”

 

 

[Dave]

The price has doubled in a week.

[Skirge]

http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcastleunited/news/tm_headline=bent-looking-for-switch%26method=full%26objectid=18425201%26siteid=50081-name_page.html

 

Bent looking for switch

Jan 9 2007

By Luke Edwards, The Journal

 

Darren Bent would jump at the chance to play for Newcastle United if the Magpies can raise the money to sign him from Charlton.

 

Bent expressed privately his interest in a move to Tyneside in the summer but ended up signing a new and improved contract with the Addicks when United refused to meet the south London side's £12m valuation.

 

But with new Charlton boss Alan Pardew admitting he will sell the England international if a sizeable offer is made during the January transfer window, Bent is once again pondering a move to the North-East excited about the possibility of eventually forming a partnership with Michael Owen.

 

Bent was first linked with United back in 2003 when Sir Bobby Robson tried to sign him from Ipswich Town for just £1m.

 

The offer was reluctantly accepted at Portman Road because the club was in administration but Bent refused to leave because he wanted to play regular first-team football rather than sit on the bench at Newcastle.

 

The 23-year-old, who is also attracting interest from West Ham, would not be cup-tied in the FA Cup if Newcastle do decide to make a sizeable investment in him as he missed Charlton's 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest through injury. That knee problem will keep the striker out for at least another three weeks.

 

There are those at St James's Park who believe they can still get Peter Crouch from Liverpool, despite the player's insistence that he does not want to leave and Rafael Benitez's determination not to sell as they do not have a replacement lined up. Either player would be welcomed by supporters who can see that their side lack an aerial threat. But it remains to be seen whether the United board are willing to sanction more than £10m on the signing of one player when Roeder also needs at least two new defenders before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

 

It is unclear how much money Roeder has to spend and Newcastle's manager has hinted heavily recently that he will have to rely on loan signings to bolster his squad.

 

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek has suggested he will retire when his contract runs out at Newcastle at the end of the season.

 

The 38-year-old has signed an extended deal at St James's Park to provide cover for Shay Given, who has a groin strain, and Steve Harper - who has just recovered from a groin operation.

 

The popular former Czech international was given a hero's welcome when he replaced Given as a late substitute against Tottenham Hotspur last month and started in the Boxing Day defeat at Bolton Wanderers

 

"We have agreed that I will stay until the summer, then we will see," said Srnicek, whose appearance against Spurs came eight years after he first left the club. "Maybe these are the last six months of my career, maybe not. I don't know.

 

"I would like to make some more appearances. I did not expect to as I came here to cover my colleagues' backs but then I appeared in two games. The first one was fantastic. The whole of St James' Park stood up and cheered my name. It was breathtaking, I can't even describe it, but I felt like I was in seventh heaven.

 

"Fortunately I managed not to concede within those three minutes and we won 3-1. The second one against Bolton was not as successful as we lost. However, if I don't get any more chances to play, I will not be unhappy. These two games have been something extra."

 

* BLACKBURN manager Mark Hughes believes his squad has the strength in depth to achieve success on three fronts this season.

 

Despite resting several key players, Rovers mercilessly swept aside Everton in the FA Cup on Sunday with a 4-1 win to set up a fourth-round tie away to QPR or Luton.

 

Next month they face a two-leg tie against Bayer Leverkusen in the last 32 of the Uefa Cup, while their position in the Premiership has rapidly improved after an inauspicious start to the season.

 

Hughes' in-form side have won six of their last seven games, encouraging hopes that another European finish, and success in both their cup campaigns, can be achieved.

 

"We are playing extremely well at the moment and we know that whoever we play will be in for a tough game," said Hughes. "It's early days but we came through an away tie at a Premiership club in Everton, which is probably one of the hardest draws we could have had.

 

"I feel comfortable with the squad I've got and the long-term injured players are hopefully coming back this month. That will make us stronger in the second half of the season and maybe we can cope with fighting on three fronts."

 

And that squad will be boosted soon with Ryan Nelsen, Steven Reid and Jason Roberts all edging nearer a return after lengthy spells on the sidelines.

[Tooj]

Jesus wept on Pav.

[Guest BillyRay Valentine]

this post should really be in the riddiculously large supathread that prevents anyone who wasn't around when it started from getting any bearing on the situation whatsovever unless they want to trawl through 6 1/2 pages of bullshit to extract the information that nothing is actually happening.

ho ho ho, loving that

[sempuki]

Newcastle interest in Bent tempered by caution

 

By Damian Spellman

 

Published: 10 January 2007

 

Newcastle will not rush into a move for the Charlton and England striker Darren Bent as he recovers from a knee injury. The club's manager, Glenn Roeder, had considered the 22-year-old after Alan Pardew admitted he is available.

 

However, while the Londoners expect Bent to be back in action within a month, fears that his absence could be more prolonged mean the Magpies are likely to suspend any approach until the summer if the player does not leave The Valley this month.

 

Newcastle's stance is understandable - they have seen their forward Michael Owen make just 10 starts since his £17m move from Real Madrid in August 2005, and while he may play again towards the end of this season, Shola Ameobi is unlikely to play until next season after hip surgery.

 

Roeder's admiration for Liverpool's Peter Crouch is well known, although the insistence of the Merseyside club' manager, Rafael Benitez, that the England international is not for sale means he needs contingency plans. Newcastle have been interested in Bent for years - he turned down a move to Tyneside as a teenager, preferring to stay at Ipswich.

 

But the Magpies have been encouraged by the noises coming out of south-east London after they were forced to disregard him last summer when he signed a new deal with Charlton. Roeder instead turned to the Nigerian Obafemi Martins, who has now settled to such an extent Newcastle have had to dismiss speculation he could be sold to Chelsea this month.

 

The manager and his chairman, Freddy Shepherd, have been scouring Europe for reinforcements in recent weeks with a striker and defenders their priorities. Roeder said: "It is going the way we expected. When you are looking for quality players, they are never easy to get out of the clubs they are already at. Managers do not want to sell their better players, so it is difficult - but I expected it to be. We are working hard and we will see what the next few weeks bring."

 

Roeder has insisted he will not invest in players without being certain they can do a job for him for the length of their contracts after being saddled with expensive flops following his appointment as manager. He managed to offload the £8m Frenchman Jean-Alain Boumsong to Juventus during the summer and will hope he can move on Albert Luque, who has also failed to live up to his reputation. It is understood the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven want to take the £9.5m Spanish winger on loan with a view to a permanent deal.

 

But the player's £40,000-a-week wages could prove the stumbling block, with Newcastle unwilling to meet any shortfall between that and what PSV are prepared to pay. They are adopting a similar stance to the one they took with Boumsong, and will hope for the same outcome.

 

The 28-year-old Luque has started only six Premiership games for the club, none of them this season, and was left on the bench at Birmingham on Saturday when the youngsters Matty Pattison and Alan O'Brien both played ahead of him.