Soccer:Sunderland have finally landed striker Darren Bent in a club record £10million (€12m) deal from Tottenham. After days of waiting, patience has finally paid off for Black Cats boss Steve Bruce and Bent, who has signed a four-year contract.
"He's everything I want," proclaimed Bruce.
Bruce has finally managed to get his man, with Bent becoming his fourth summer signing, following Fraizer Campbell, Lorik Cana and Paulo Da Silva to the Stadium of Light.
The 25-year-old, capped four times by England, becomes the club's most expensive capture, eclipsing the £9m (€11m) paid to Hearts for goalkeeper Craig Gordon two years ago.
Throughout the course of his career, Bent's goalscoring record has been impressive, initially scoring 55 goals in 141 appearances for Ipswich before joining Charlton for £2.5m (€3m) in June 2005.
Bent weighed in with 37 goals in 79 games for the Addicks prior to a £16.5m (€19m) switch two years ago to Tottenham, where he netted a further 25 goals in 79 appearances.
"Good things come to those who wait," added Bruce, who has had to exercise a fair amount of patience to finally land Bent.
The forward also showed his frustration last week at the protracted nature of the deal with a foul-mouthed rant on his Twitter page, for which he later apologised.
Bruce, reflecting on Bent's career, remarked: "It has not quite happened for Darren at Spurs.
"But he has 50 goals in 100 Premier League starts and that speaks volumes about why we are bringing him to the club.
"He's had the competition of the likes of (Dimitar) Berbatov, (Jermain) Defoe and (Robbie) Keane, but he has still scored goals when he's been given games.
"He's something different - he's got pace, power, he's young, he's English and he gets goals."