Bent fires Tottenham exit warning

Pa
Friday 13 February 2009 06:16 EST
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Tottenham striker Darren Bent has warned he will look for a way out of White Hart Lane in the summer if he remains on the fringes of the first team under manager Harry Redknapp.

The former Charlton hitman has featured in 31 games for Spurs in all competitions this season but most of those appearances have come from the bench, and he has made just three starts in the club's last 16 outings.

Bent has nevertheless found the net 14 times during the current campaign and insists his prowess in front of goal will only improve further by getting more playing time on the pitch.

"I've spoken to the manager a couple of times about my position but I can only hear the same thing so many times," Bent told The Sun.

"I'm not one of those players who will just sit back and let his career pass him by.

"I'll bang on his door. At least I'm still involved. I'm not being left out of the squad or anything like that.

"But I'm only 25 and there is so much more to come from me as a player. I'm not the finished article and I will get better.

"I'd like to think that improvement will be with Tottenham. But if nothing is happening for me by the end of the season then I will look to go elsewhere."

He added: "I need to play more games. I want to play football. I don't want another season where I'm in and out of the team all the time.

"I've actually scored quite a lot of goals this season, considering I'm not playing regularly.

"So I'm going to have to weigh up my options in the summer."

Bent revealed Spurs' revolving door transfer policy has made for an unsettling time at the club.

Both Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe left the club in the recent past only to return during last month's transfer window, and Bent admitted their returns, coupled with the arrival of a raft of new faces over the summer, had hindered his efforts to forge striking partnerships.

"The constant change has definitely made things more difficult," he said.

"I've played with Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Giovani Dos Santos, Fraizer Campbell and Roman Pavlyuchenko and not really had time to develop an understanding with any of them.

"Last year, we sold three of our strikers and now most of them are back at the club - which is strange."

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