page_title: Darren Bent
section_title: Aston Villa
hierarchical_section_title: Darren Bent / Club career / Aston Villa
caption_attribution_description: English: Darren Bent playing for Aston Villa against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, London on 15 May 2011
context_page_description: Darren Ashley Bent is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Football League for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team.
  Bent started his career with Godmanchester Rovers before being scouted by Ipswich Town. After progressing through their youth system, he made his first-team debut in 2001. He made 122 appearances and scored 48 goals in the league for Ipswich, before joining Charlton Athletic for a fee of £2.5 million in 2005. He was Charlton Athletic's top goalscorer for two consecutive seasons and joined Tottenham Hotspur for a club-record fee of £16.5 million in 2007. After two seasons at Tottenham, he joined Sunderland. After a successful 18 months at Sunderland, he joined Aston Villa in 2011. Bent had loans with Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Derby County, and after being released by Villa in 2015, joined Derby permanently.
  Bent represented England at under-15, under-16, under-19, under-21 and senior levels. He made 14 appearances and scored 9 goals for the under-21 team after making his debut against Italy in 2003.
context_section_description: On 17 January 2011, Bent submitted a transfer request, amid reports that Aston Villa had made a club-record £18 million bid for him, which was rejected. Villa then submitted an improved offer of £18 million, potentially rising to £24 million, which was then accepted. The following day, Bent completed his move to Villa and signed a four-and-a-half-year deal. He scored the winning goal on his debut against Manchester City in a 1–0 victory at Villa Park. Bent scored his second Villa goal in his third appearance for his team when he completed the full 90 minutes against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 3–1 away defeat. Bent scored both of Villa's goals in their 2–1 away victory over Arsenal in the penultimate match of the season on 15 May. The first was a nicely crafted volley after he chested down a Kyle Walker chipped pass, with the second coming a few minutes later after a slip from Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen allowed Ashley Young the time to thread a pass through the Gunners' defence and Bent to sidefoot home for 2–0. He finished the season with 9 goals in 16 Premier League appearances for Villa, becoming the club's joint top-scorer with Ashley Young, despite only joining in January. He was also the top English goalscorer in the Premier League and the fourth highest scorer overall that season with 17 goals, eight of which were scored for Sunderland.
  In his first full season with Villa, Bent scored his first goal of the season against Blackburn Rovers in a 3–1 victory on 20 August 2011. In his first match against former club Sunderland, a 2–2 draw at the Stadium of Light on 29 October 2011, every time he received a touch on the ball, he was booed by the home support. Bent then suffered an injury during the match against Bolton and was out for the next few matches as a result. Bent caused controversy when a fan posted a picture and claimed the striker was out shopping while his teammates were losing 2–0 to Liverpool. It was later revealed Bent had been sent home to recover from his injury and afterwards he apologised to the Villa fans for his actions. After apologising, Villa manager Alex McLeish reacted angrily to the "conspiracy theory" over Bent's absence for Villa. This led to Bent having to deny a fall-out with McLeish. Bent made his return as a 78th-minute substitute in the match against Chelsea on 31 December 2011, scoring the third goal to seal a 3–1 win at Stamford Bridge. After not scoring in the next two matches, Bent went on a run by scoring in the next four matches for Villa, including his first FA Cup goal in a Villa shirt on 29 January 2012, against Arsenal in an eventual 3–2 defeat. Three days later, Bent scored his 100th Premier League goal as Villa came from behind to earn a 2–2 home draw against Queens Park Rangers. He was the 21st player to reach the milestone.
  On 25 February 2012, in a match against Wigan Athletic, Bent landed awkwardly on his ankle after tangling with Antolín Alcaraz. He was stretchered off the pitch with what was thought to be a serious injury. This was confirmed two days later, after Bent had a scan on his ankle that revealed he had ruptured ligaments. He was out for three months which effectively ended his season with Villa and most likely his chance to play at UEFA Euro 2012. Bent had recovered from his injury by mid-May and was in contention for Villa's final match of 2011–12 against Norwich City but was ultimately left out. This also gave him the possibility of making new England manager Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 England squad. Bent vowed to prove his fitness to Hodgson, in the hope he would be selected to play in the tournament. Bent once again finished as Villa's top scorer with 10 goals in 25 appearances and vowed to stay on at the club.
  In July 2012, Bent was named interim captain of Aston Villa while Stiliyan Petrov continued to recover from leukaemia. On 28 August, Bent scored his first goal of 2012–13 in a 3–0 victory over League One team Tranmere Rovers in the second round of the League Cup, his first goal for Villa since February 2012. Bent lost the Villa captaincy t
caption: Bent playing for Aston Villa in 2011
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