[Archived] Bentley

[RibbleValleyRover]

A few weeks back i thought "yes he will be with us another year", but now i am not so sure.

Like many other posters have already pointed out he does look down, dejected, frustrated whatever you want to call it. Whilst in recent games he has shown glimpses of his ability, i believe there has been a drop in performances in particular his hunger and drive. Something appears to be bothering him, whether thats due to speculation about his future, or him wanting to leave i cannot tell.

Its not looking good at all.

[S15]

He'll be linked with Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Villa and City in 12-18 months after a wee run in a ''big'' clubs reserves.

He overrates himself, he is not the player Duff was nor does he have the consitancy. He can have a good chinwag with SWP about life soon.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

A few weeks back i thought "yes he will be with us another year", but now i am not so sure.

Like many other posters have already pointed out he does look down, dejected, frustrated whatever you want to call it. Whilst in recent games he has shown glimpses of his ability, i believe there has been a drop in performances in particular his hunger and drive. Something appears to be bothering him, whether thats due to speculation about his future, or him wanting to leave i cannot tell.

Its not looking good at all.

Its called having your head turned and believing all the hype......we are no longer big enough for him in his eyes.

[tony gale's mic]

To be honest though our midfield is looking better already with Vogel, sell Bents for £15 million and we can get a left and a right winger with that money and, if Sparky's transfer record is anything to go by, still have money to spare. It's not all doom and gloom if he goes.

[Paul Mellelieu]

He'll be linked with Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Villa and City in 12-18 months after a wee run in a ''big'' clubs reserves.

He overrates himself, he is not the player Duff was nor does he have the consitancy. He can have a good chinwag with SWP about life soon.

He supplies as many goals as Duff did, and without him we'd look at whole less dangerous. He'd be a massive loss if he was to leave. I hope Philip is right.

Now let's have a chat about Portsmouth....

[American]

To be honest though our midfield is looking better already with Vogel, sell Bents for £15 million and we can get a left and a right winger with that money and, if Sparky's transfer record is anything to go by, still have money to spare. It's not all doom and gloom if he goes.

Don't forget about the 45% sell on clause we allegedly have with Arsenal, right Philipl?

[philipl]

Given Keith Edelman has paid with his job for the Flamini situation, perhaps Arsenal really did sell David Bentley to us for well under £1 million with no strings attached.....

If they did, we got the deal of the century. The lad only scored a hattrick against Man U the day after we signed him!

Personally, I am still discounting every figure quoted as a potential selling price for Bents by half. Who knows, perhaps Bents apparent misery is because he knows deep down that the deal done for him with Arsenal means that the Rovers have relatively little pecuniary interest in selling him at any realistic price. If so, even if somebody came in with a massive offer, Rovers would not be that interested in accepting it.

At best from Bentley's perspective, Rovers might accept an agreed fee payable to them (say £15m) on condition that the buying club accepts the discharge of any obligation to Arsenal. Of course, Arsenal are hardly going to be kindly towards Liverpool (4-2 too fresh) or to any other club in the Champions League or with Champions League ambitions (in England or anywhere else) and would be particularly stubborn if Spurs came knocking. Now what sort of club would young David fancy joining?

[S15]

He supplies as many goals as Duff did, and without him we'd look at whole less dangerous. He'd be a massive loss if he was to leave. I hope Philip is right.

Now let's have a chat about Portsmouth....

Right.

Duff was a better player. Quicker, just as/if not more skillful, ''supplies as many goals,'' scored more goals. and, to be honest, was just clearly better. Anyone who saw him knew he was very, very special.

Now Bentley is a good player, but he is not ''very, very special.''

And heeeey,... Another Portsmouth quirp. Seems to have rattled one or two of the local cretins that discussion hasn't it. You're funny though, think it's just the way you tell em.....

[1864roverite]

Time will tell with Bentley.

Outisde of the top 4 there is NOT a club that can rival Rovers or offer a better stage on which to perform his footbnalling skills.

Newcastle - big pond small time club

Spurs - overrated big pond, manager who dotes on foreign players

Villa - only bigger than Rovers off the pitch

Everton - same as Villa

Pompy - small time outfit, good manager but again a club that likes African based players and wham cast offs

As for a 50% sell on clause, where has that figure come from ??

[roversmum]

It's simple, isn't it? All the talk is about Roque, who has pipped Bents to three Player of the Year Awards which if Roque wasn't around would have gone to him, all the paper talk is about Roque, if the press is to be believed Hughes has probably told him to cool it or they are just not interested in interviewing him at the moment. Suddenly Bents isn't top dog at Rovers and the talk of the press and he's a bit peeved about it. Natural enough, anyone would be!

I just hope he doesn't make the wrong decision in the wake of it all because as we all know that could very easily happen.

[USABlue]

It's simple, isn't it? All the talk is about Roque, who has pipped Bents to three Player of the Year Awards which if Roque wasn't around would have gone to him, all the paper talk is about Roque, if the press is to be believed Hughes has probably told him to cool it or they are just not interested in interviewing him at the moment. Suddenly Bents isn't top dog at Rovers and the talk of the press and he's a bit peeved about it. Natural enough, anyone would be!

I just hope he doesn't make the wrong decision in the wake of it all because as we all know that could very easily happen.

In my opinion Roque deserves all the credit he gets. If, in fact, this is the way Bents acts when he is upstaged by other players what chance in hell does he have of being happy at a "big" club where some players have the media drooling over the simplest of things.

My opinion is that his heart is here but someone (fill in agents name) has turned his head with some delusions of grandeur, got the lad a bit confused.

Either way it needs sorted, I'd hate to have another long drawn out player leaving affair over the summer.

[philipl]

Steven Warnock makes a good point in his official site comments on his new contract. He attributes some of his injury record to the difficulty in keeping fit when appearance opportunities come along sporadically.

I wonder if that also applies to Roque who was not only in and out of the team when fit but also had a bad time with injuries at Bayern.

Thankfully Rovers have managed to keep both players fit this season.

The more I think about, the more I believe that on any rational basis, Bents will be at Ewood next season. I guess, however, that a Cisse-esque break suffered by Gerald, Babel or Pennant would dramatically change that view.

[DP]

Let's just be realistic about this.

Bellamy's contract had a clause, Duff had a (very high) clause. Top four clubs paid up and they went. Last summer the press tried to sell McCarthy so Huges put a price tag on him and no-one stepped up. He'll have exactly the same attitude with Bentley this summer and with the current market you have to ask will any club come up with £15-20 million for him? I still think Bentley is too arrogant to want to move to anyone outside the top 4 so I have a feeling keeping hold of him won't be as difficult as some people think.

[Hughesy]

Iv also noticed how he has become abit more dettached from the rovers fans. Very rarely do the blackburn end sing his name anymore. Maybe he now feels its time to move on. All the indications seem like that to me.

[American]

Time will tell with Bentley.

Outisde of the top 4 there is NOT a club that can rival Rovers or offer a better stage on which to perform his footbnalling skills.

Newcastle - big pond small time club

Spurs - overrated big pond, manager who dotes on foreign players

Villa - only bigger than Rovers off the pitch

Everton - same as Villa

Pompy - small time outfit, good manager but again a club that likes African based players and wham cast offs

As for a 50% sell on clause, where has that figure come from ??

Philipl made it up to make it sound like he knows what he's talking about.

[philipl]

Philipl made it up to make it sound like he knows what he's talking about.

Let's switch it around then.

Who is confident that Arsenal do not have a sell-on clause?

[Bazzanotsogreat]

Let's switch it around then.

Who is confident that Arsenal do not have a sell-on clause?

Extremely confident that Arsenal don’t a sell on clause anywhere near 50%, perhaps 10-20% (if there is one at all) tops, There is no-way rovers would agree to a virtual co-ownership of a players contract. Plus if Arsenal couldn’t even be bothered to negotiate a first refusal on Bentley , what makes you think they’d be bothered to play hardball over any future sell-on clause?

[LeChuck]

When Arsenal sold Pennant on to Birmingham they had a 25% sell-on clause attached to the deal.

Pennant was a far more established and sought after player when he left Arsenal than Bentley was when he joined us; he'd had a successful loan spell in a poor Leeds team, another successful loan at Birmingham and had a Premiership hat-trick to his name for Arsenal. In contrast to that, Bentley had made two first team appearances, had a very uninspiring loan at Norwich, and a relatively poor loan spell with ourselves.

Add this to the fact that Arsenal were trying to recoup some of the £2 million they paid for Pennant, whereas Bentley was a product of the youth academy. I'd be amazed if there was a sell-on clause in the deal above 25%, in fact I'd still be very surprised if there was one at all because Arsenal have a record of letting good youth players leave for peanuts.

[Iceman]

Every year its the same story,Neill,Bellamy,Benni and now Bentley..its bound to happen if we have a good player,and the big clubs come knocking.If Bents wants to leave,then sell him...my view is always that if a player thinks he is better than the club,then he should go and play somewhere else.Hughes sees it differently,and ive heard that Hughes will not sell Bents,but will rather let him rot in the reserves.

[JAL]

Whatever happens with Bents come the summer, the reality is Rovers simply cant afford to lose him but then again niether can they afford a sulking player who doesnt reach the heights hes reached this season.

What a great marketing opportunity that would be missed as the club tries to stand on its own two feet. If Bents was to leave it would massive for me, the lessons of the past surely must have been learnt. Santa Cruz goals would probably dry up by about fifty per cent if Bents wasnt in the team.

For me Hughes needs to sign another top quality attack minded midfielder (not Koumas or Tonge) who can make more than just your ordinary contribution to a premier league football match and give the team a more balanced winnable look.

[yellowsubmarine]

Villa - only bigger than Rovers off the pitch

Everton - same as Villa

Both are ahead of us in the League table.

[AggyBlue]

Both are ahead of us in the League table.

Neither seem interested in Bents.

The only interest seems to be from teams trying to catch up with us. In other words, a step backwards for him.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Both are ahead of us in the League table.

Villa by only one point and Everton just four. Not a large gap by any means.

[thenodrog]

Every year its the same story,Neill,Bellamy,Benni and now Bentley..its bound to happen if we have a good player,and the big clubs come knocking.

Aint just us. It happens at every club to a greater or lesser extent. Arse have just had Flamini pinched from them, Spurs seem resigned to losing Berbatov, similarly Everton and Arteta and Villa / Barry, there's also rumours surrounding Gerrard at Liverpool and Ronaldo at ManU and even Drogba looks like leaving money bags Chelsea.

Happens all the time unfortunately.

[thenodrog]

I really don't understand why we are so suited when one of our players plays for England. It always screws their minds up and so it appears to have done with Bentley.

No doubt rubbing shoulders with players that are earning 2 and 3 times the amount our guys are on and with a Mr 20% agent prodding them with a sharp stick has a lot to do with it.