[Archived] Bentley

[den]

JW said this morning on Radio Lancashire, that he fully expects Bentley to sign a new contract. He sees no problems on the horizon with that.

JW quote

[modes98]

Bentley is leaving in the summer.

After all his, I'm glad i left Arsenal quotes and stuff i doubt he would want to move to a top 4 team and go through the same again. Having been through it once he is in a great position to time his move right. Equally JW and MH want to tie him up on longer deals so we get more money for him.

He will leave but i seriously doubt that it will be this summer.

[joey_big_nose]

I am beginning to feel that Bentley could go to. His profile has jumped immensely in the last two months, a bit like Aaron Lennon a while back. People are genuinely starting to see him as the next big thing. This will turn heads at the big four because of the marketing opportunity.

Interestingly Bentley has probably had his worst spell of the season over the last two months. Funny old game.

If he wants to go and someone can afford him (if he peforms well for England we could get 15m or more a la Carrick) then there is no point standing in his way. That sort of money would allow us to revamp the midfield totally. Bentley is a very good player with great potential but not irreplaceable. And we don't want players at the club who are looking to move on. Also Hughes is shrewd enough to spend the money wisely.

In a way it is better to diversify your assets if you can. Bentley, pedersen, McCarthy have all shown that they are not going to be brilliant all of the time, much as we would love them to be, so if you can get several individuals in for the money there is great value in that. You can see how Everton have built post Rooney. Its all about using the money sensibly.

That said if he does want to stay there is absolutely no reason to sell him- he is a good player and we don't want to force anyone out, we are not a selling club.

[John]

It is clear to me that Bentley is asking the club to match his ambition, something we clearly cannot do.

[Hughesy]

With interest from Spain and the fact that his game suits the more technical side of football then I could see Rafa Benitez becoming interested in him or maybe Ramos at Tottenham - the main thing however is do they have enough cash to spend on him? No doubt Spurs would, but Liverpool? At Chelsea, United or Arsenal he wouldnt get a place in the team and I doubt he would go back to Arsenal.

£15m + or no deal! If we got that sort of cash then Im sure Hughes could do a very good job with that + say an extra £7 or £8m from the board.

[AggyBlue]

£15m + or no deal! If we got that sort of cash then Im sure Hughes could do a very good job with that + say an extra £7 or £8m from the board.

My line of thought too. We need four or five new faces that can slot straight into the starting line up or we could end up doing a Notlob next season.

[Bazzanotsogreat]

With interest from Spain and the fact that his game suits the more technical side of football then I could see Rafa Benitez becoming interested in him or maybe Ramos at Tottenham - the main thing however is do they have enough cash to spend on him? No doubt Spurs would, but Liverpool? At Chelsea, United or Arsenal he wouldnt get a place in the team and I doubt he would go back to Arsenal.

£15m + or no deal! If we got that sort of cash then Im sure Hughes could do a very good job with that + say an extra £7 or £8m from the board.

As much as i would like to think they will give Hughes that sort of money , its extremely unlikely to happen.

[joey_big_nose]

As much as i would like to think they will give Hughes that sort of money , its extremely unlikely to happen.

Its debatable. Depends on the trust really, whether they see the need to invest or not.

I think we had around 3 million available in Jan so that should roll over, plus the 1.5m for Sav, plus the 5m or so we have knocking around for transfers each season. 8m is achievable I think The stupid thing is any proven player will cost 5m-6m plus exorbitant wages. Anyone with a profile- like Defoe or Alan Smith just as examples - is just not within our price bracket.

We will be looking at players at big clubs who have slid down the pecking order (a la Cruz and mcCarthy), youngsters not being utilized (a la Bentley, Samba, Warnock, Huddlestone was in this category but he has found favour), aging stars (Vogel/Ooijer), or new entries into the market from smaller countries abroad (Nelsen). Not a lot of change there.

The only established players who regularly appeared in the starting XI for their previous clubs we have signed in recent seasons are Roberts and Ooijer. We will be in the same market whether we have 2m or 10m. The price of a regular starter is massive these days. Even Koumas who has not been a regular nor particularly proven apparently costs 5m... Man Utd had to pay 17m for Carrick who was a decent starter for Spurs but not brilliant.

Say we wanted Jimmy Bullard. No chance we could get him for less than 7m. It's craziness.

So expect some very old familiar names, or ones you have never heard before.

[Hughesy]

Ok £5m then surely? After another good season and with our reputation growing + a new sponsorship deal, you would hope the board would back him with some funds - especially as they said they would go back for thier two long term targets this summer - 1 a striker and 1 a midfielder

[joey_big_nose]

Ok £5m then surely? After another good season and with our reputation growing + a new sponsorship deal, you would hope the board would back him with some funds - especially as they said they would go back for thier two long term targets this summer - 1 a striker and 1 a midfielder

5m just buys us Koumas. I think he might be one of our long term targets... I am not sure I am massively in favor of that one to be honest.

Haven't we already signed that Paraguayan Cuevas dude too?

[Hughesy]

Who's that? The striker mate of Roques that said he had held talks or something but he has to prove his fitness 1st? Koumas wouldnt be too bad - but i dont honestly believe he is our no1 choice. I think he doesnt even play in the country at the moment. The striker however - is a mystery, maybe Lita?

Haven't we already signed that Paraguayan Cuevas dude too?

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Ok £5m then surely? After another good season and with our reputation growing + a new sponsorship deal, you would hope the board would back him with some funds - especially as they said they would go back for thier two long term targets this summer - 1 a striker and 1 a midfielder

Since the start of Hughes’s reign he hasn’t been given anywhere near that sort of cash. What makes you think that the board will start giving it to him know. Infact the trust have actually (temporarily?) withdrawn there annual cash flow to rovers.

So again I ask what makes you think that sparky will have 5 million for transfers + a couple of extra mill for signing on fees/wages.

[Hughesy]

The extra cash is there - if we want it - however we havent asked for it! Maybe in the summer we could ask for double to make up for it?!?! Please!

This last summer Roque cost us almost £4m alone, then there was rigters - thats not far from the £5m mark.

[AggyBlue]

So again I ask what makes you think that sparky will have 5 million for transfers + a couple of extra mill for signing on fees/wages.

We will be getting rid of some deadwood this summer. Depending on who goes where, 5m plus isn't an unreasonable amount to raise.

[Bazzanotsogreat]

The extra cash is there - if we want it - however we havent asked for it! Maybe in the summer we could ask for double to make up for it?!?! Please!

This last summer Roque cost us almost £4m alone, then there was rigters - thats not far from the £5m mark.

Roque cost 3.3m , Rigters 350K. Offset by the 1.5 m sale of Sav. That's two miilion, most of which is money from the the new tv deal. There should be extra money there , however it appers that there isn't; especially not the 7-10 miilion that you advocate.

[joey_big_nose]

I don't think we used the Sav money to offset Cruz. We had it available for transfers but there was no one available for the right money.

Koumas was rated at 5m. I think we were willing to pay in the region of 3m. I would say it is highly reasonable we will spend 5m this summer. 8m might be a push.

[waggy]

if we want money to spend we most probably have to sell bentley as he is our most sellable asset,worth anything from £7-15 million,the problem is do we sell because we get a offer to good to refuse,or do we have to sell because bentley makes it known he wants to leave :!:

[RevidgeBlue]

More on Bents interview below:

David Bentley stuck to his guns on Sunday morning telling Goals on Sunday that he stands by his comments about this being a disappointing season for him at Blackburn.

I agree wiith him it's looking like being a very disappointing season, but I can't see a direct admission from him that his own inconsistent form has been a major contributory factor in that.

Also if he did say in the goals on Sunday interview that Hughes will be off if a top team comes in then that's bang out of order. He may think that but he should keep those sort of views to himself. He wouldn't come out and say "yeah, I can't wait to move if a top 4 club comes in for me" about himself so he shouldn't be doing it for MH.

I've met him and he's a really really nice chap. Wish he would keep a much lower profile but that's not now likely with his appointment as a Sun columnist.

[RevidgeBlue]

Well if he does want to leave we will read it in the Sun first !

David Bentley - New Sun Columnist

Only just read that, so he admittedly only plays one good game and three bad ones becaiuse he's only playing for little old Blackburn and can't focus most of the time????

I must admit that's the impression I've had of him this season since he played an absolute blinder out of the blue against Chelsea at home but I'm absolutely staggered he would come out and say something like that publicly.

Think MH needs to go to Court to put "a gagging order" on him!

[RevidgeBlue]

JW quote

Only means he'd earn a bit more money before he goes Den.

Not even sure if it'd have a huge bearing on the fee.

Those quotes in the Sun sound pretty final I'm afraid.

[den]

Only means he'd earn a bit more money before he goes Den.

Not even sure if it'd have a huge bearing on the fee.

Those quotes in the Sun sound pretty final I'm afraid.

Hey Rev, I'm not saying whether he'll sign a new contract or not. How would I know? Even if he does sign one, there could/probably would, be a get out clause in there - so it means nothing. I've got past worrying about those kind of things.

Oh and just to add, - I do find it strange that nowadays players must be playing in the Champs league [i.e. one of the top four clubs] to be sure about representing their country. Why? Bentley got his chance while playing for BRFC, as did Shearer and many more. Why do they have to move clubs to continue playing for England? There are enough games in the English Premier league for any player to show his worth against the best players in Europe. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the Prem is harder, week in week out, than is the Champs league - where many of the games are against poor opposition.

[jim mk2]

David Bentley, Sun columnist.

Michael Atherton, new Times cricket correspondent.

Geoffrey Green and EW Swanton will be turning in their graves.

[b12_simon]

Hey Rev, I'm not saying whether he'll sign a new contract or not. How would I know? Even if he does sign one, there could/probably would, be a get out clause in there - so it means nothing. I've got past worrying about those kind of things.

One thing with a new contract is if he does leave for another club, Rovers should get more money in return.

Joleon Lescott did similar before he signed for Everton, meaning Wolves got a nice wad of cash to soften the blow of losing a player.

Obviously my preference would be to be watching the David Bentley testimonial some years from now but that's not very likely. Instead we'll probably have to settle a ton of money with which to try and replace him.

[LeftWinger]

Who would you try and replace Bentley with? If we were to get 20m - I'd get a cheap-ish replacement like Chris Eagles.

[Hughesy]

Agree totally - just look at Wheater who has been called up today from Boro - they aint even in the top 10 in the league!! There is no doubt that it does help to be at a bigger club, but with Capello also looking at the likes of Cahill who has just gone to Bolton then it is obvious you dont have to be at the top!

I think the statement says that Bentley wants champions league football, he doesnt feel he will get it at ewood unless there is big investment so if the offer is right, he would happily leave for a bigger opportunity. Shame really as we took him from Arsenal Ressies/ Norwich fall out and helped him to reach his potential - just a shame players cant show abit more loyalty - not like he doesnt get a good enough wage is it!

Oh and just to add, - I do find it strange that nowadays players must be playing in the Champs league [i.e. one of the top four clubs] to be sure about representing their country. Why? Bentley got his chance while playing for BRFC, as did Shearer and many more. Why do they have to move clubs to continue playing for England? There are enough games in the English Premier league for any player to show his worth against the best players in Europe. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the Prem is harder, week in week out, than is the Champs league - where many of the games are against poor opposition.