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Last Wednesday, Darren Bent joined the exclusive class of players who have scored at least 100 premier league goals. This is quite a feat considering the quality of players who have played in the Premier League, with only 20 scoring over a hundred goals.
The 27 years old England poacher said
“It meant the world, It was fantastic to score my 100th in a Villa jersey. That meant a lot to me. It meant the world to me actually.”
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Bent is one of the finest strikers in terms of goals-to-games ratio, he has been consistent at all of his clubs, but endured a nightmare spell with Tottenham before finding his feet again.
A product of Ipswich’s youth system, he broke into the first team in 2001-02 and he banged 18 goals in all competitions. Two more solid years saw him emerge as a real talent before Charlton Athletic came calling. The striker joined the Addicks during their struggling period in the Premier League, he still bagged 32 goals in 68 starts for a team which was eventually relegated in 2007.
He moved on to Tottenham Hotspurs for a club record fee of £16.5 million. It proved to be a frustrating experience as he found first team opportunities hard to come by and he failed to hit the net with the same regularity, bagging 18 in his two seasons at White Hart Lane.
Sunderland snapped him up for £12 million in 2009 and his career was back on track with a career high of 24 goals in 38 games in his first season which saw him finish as the 3rd top scorer in the Premier League. However, a shock bid from Aston Villa saw him move south in January 2011 for a record fee of around £24 million.
Bent hasn’t been accorded the respect he deserves. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp once made this comment after a Bent miss
“You will never get a better chance to win a match than that. My missus could have scored that one”.
Despite finishing third top scorer behind Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney in the 2009-10 season, Fabio Capello couldn’t find a place for him on the plane to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The fast, powerful, quick and incisive striker said
“If I could get another 100 in the Blaret and Blue I’d be happy, delighted. It would really be fantastic.“
An affirmation of his commitment to Aston Villa.
Congratulations to Darren Bent!
Here are the other exclusive members of the illustrious group.
- Alan SHEARER – 260 PL goals
- Andy COLE – 187 PL goals
- Thierry HENRY – 175 PL goals
- Robbie FOWLER – 163 PL goals
- Les FERDINAND – 149 PL goals
- Michael OWEN – 149 PL goals
- Frank LAMPARD – 148 PL goals
- Teddy SHERINGHAM – 147 PL goals
- Robbie KEANE – 148 PL goals
- Wayne ROONEY – 132 PL goals
- Jimmy Floyd HASSELBAINK – 127 PL goals
- Dwight YORKE – 123 PL goals
- Nicolas ANELKA – 123 PL goals
- Emile HESKEY – 117 PL goals
- Ian WRIGHT – 113 PL goals
- Dion DUBLIN – 111 PL goals
- Ryan GIGGS – 111 PL goals
- Paul SCHOLES – 103 goals
- Matthew LE TISSIER – 101 goals
