Darren Bent, born on February 6, 1984 in Tooting, is an English football striker of Jamaican descent who used to support Arsenal in his childhood.
Darren Bent began his international football career by playing twelve times for the England Under-19 national team, for which he scored eight goals. In February 2003, he debuted for the Under-21 national team in a match against Italy. On August 17, 2005, Darren Bent was named in the England senior national team that played a friendly game against Denmark, and later, he was included in the squad for the qualifying matches of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup against Wales and Northern Ireland. He debuted as a first-team member on March 1, 2006 in a friendly match against Uruguay. In October 2006, Darren Bent was recalled to the Under-21 side for the Euro 2008 qualifying play-offs against Germany, but he had to return to the senior national team because of Andrew Johnson’s injury. He was a part of the team that played in the United European Football Association (UEFA) Euro 2008 qualifying match against Croatia in November 2007.
Darren Bent, at the age of ten, joined the Godmanchester football club before moving on to the youth academy of Ipswich Town in 2001. He played in the Football Association (FA) Youth Cup, appeared for its reserve team, and later, he signed his professional contract with the club. On November 1, 2001, Darren Bent debuted for the senior team of Ipswich Town in the UEFA Cup match against Helsingborg, a Swedish football club. On November 27, 2001, he scored his first goal for the club in a League Cup match against Newcastle United. Darren Bent made his first Premiership goal on April 24, 2002 in a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, and in October 2002, he scored a winning goal against Slovan Liberec, a Czech football club, during the UEFA Cup. In the 2002-03 season, he made a total of eighteen goals, and he added 16 more to his credit during the 2003-04 season. In the following season, Darren Bent became the second highest scorer of the team with 19 goals.
In June 2005, he signed with Charlton Athletic for a fee of £2.5 million, and on August 13, 2005, in his debut match against Sunderland at the 2005-06 FA Premier League, he scored a brace on the opening day. Darren Bent was named the Premiership Player of the Month for August and went on to become the highest English scorer and the third highest scorer in the Premier League. His impressive performances earned him the Charlton Athletic Player of the Season award. In 2006-07, he became the club’s top scorer in the Premier League with 14 goals.
On June 29, 2007, Darren Bent signed a deal worth £16.5 million with Tottenham Hotspur, and during the 2007-08 pre-season, he scored his first goal for the club in a friendly match against Stevenage Borough. In August 2007, he hit his first competitive goal for Tottenham against Derby County in a 4-0 home victory. During the next month, he made yet another goal in a 6-1 win over Anorthosis Famagusta, a Cyprus-based football club, in the first round of the UEFA Cup. On March 9, 2008, Darren Bent scored the hundredth goal of his career in a game against West Ham. He had the honor of making the hundredth goal of the 2007-08 season at his home ground, White Hart Lane, in a game against Portsmouth, which Tottenham won 2-0. Darren Bent concluded the season with a goal against Newcastle United, his eighth goal out of thirty-six matches. During the 2008-09 pre-season, he added 12 more goals to his credit and then netted his first league goal of the season in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea. In the first round of the UEFA Cup, Darren Bent scored a header in a 2-1 victory over Wisla Krawkow, a Polish club.
