Darren Bent

Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Aston Villa as a striker.

Bent started his career with Ipswich Town after progresing through their youth system, before making 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 their 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.

He has represented England at under-15, under-16, under-17, under-19, under-21 and senior levels. He made 14 appearances and scored nine goals for the under-21 side, after making his debut against Italy in 2003. He made his debut for the senior England side in 2006 against Uruguay, and has since made seven appearances for England. He scored his first goal on 7 September 2010 in a 3–1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match victory against Switzerland.

Personal life

Born in Tooting, London, Bent is of Jamaican descent and his father, Mervyn Bent, was a player in the youth systems of Wimbledon and Brentford. He moved to Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire at the age of 10 and...
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