Well Benteke has handed in a transfer request, so maybe Bent won't be leaving so soon. Benteke to Arsenal, anyone?
So if Austin didn't, what does that say? Seriously though, from what I read the problem is thought to be his shoulder. He dislocated it three times in four years, but - and this is the interesting bit - it hasn't been a problem since 2011. If that is why he failed it, I'd say he's worth the risk for £4.5m. Perhaps we could even haggle the price down or get some of it moved to appearance-related add-ons. That said, I'm coming to the conclusion that we're not in the market for a striker. Perhaps Jol has got confidence in Rodalega and Trotta (the two Rodneys) to cover the gaps if anything happens to Berbatov and Ruiz. Personally I'd rather have Charlie Austin.
I'd like to see us in for Austin too but alas fear Jol will be relying on Ruiz/Berbatov for the goals. Interesting to see Hull now in for Carlton Cole, still a better option than Bent?
It's not his shoulder, we already knew about that, it's a problem with his knee. It must be bad, as Bruce has said we're no longer interested at any price and he hopes Charlie still has a future in the game.
If you didn't have Berbatov I'd say Bent would make a good signing. Not so sure Berba and Bent would work that well up top, I don't remember them working particularly well together at Spurs. Bent is a great goalscorer but little else, we all used to say that if he didn't score he did f- all and even when he was trying to get more involved in the play, rather than staying on the defender's shoulder all game, he ended up more of a hinderance than a help. Combine that with Berbatov drifiting in and out of the game and you could find yourself playing at times with 9 men on the field! Berbatov always worked best with Keane and his game's hardly changed since he was with us so another all-rounder with a great work ethic should be your target. Preferably someone young and with a bit of pace too. Not sure who that would be though.
I think he gets a nose bleed if he travels north of Watford, so I think there's little chance of him joining us. I'd be quite happy if he did, I'm a big fan of going for little and large with striker pairings, but we'd still need a more natural finisher to partner him.
