Darren Bent

Sunderland opened negotiations to sign Bent in July 2009. [ 39 ] The deal seemed delayed and through social networking website Twitter he accused club chairman Daniel Levy of disrupting his move to Sunderland, although Bent later apologised, saying he acted out of frustration. [ 40 ] He travelled to Sunderland to sign for the club after they agreed a fee with Tottenham, and after passing a medical, Bent signed for Sunderland on 5 August for an initial fee of £10 million plus potential additional payments, which later rose to £16.5 million. [ 41 ] He scored on his Sunderland debut, which was the only goal in a 1–0 victory against Bolton, [ 42 ] and was followed with Sunderland's opening goal against Chelsea in a 3–1 defeat. [ 43 ] He scored a brace in the 4–1 win over Hull City to give himself his third and fourth goals in five matches. [ 44 ] Bent scored Sunderland's only goal against Burnley at Turf Moor , making the score 1–1, before losing 3–1. [ 45 ] He scored again in a 5–2 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers , [ 46 ] although after the match, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce was left angry at Bent's decision to give Sunderland's second penalty kick to teammate Kenwyne Jones , after the latter "pleaded" with Bent to take the penalty so that he could get on the score sheet. [ 47 ] Bent scored in a 1–0 victory against Liverpool on 17 October 2009 when his shot hit a beach ball thrown onto the field by a Liverpool fan and past confused goalkeeper Pepe Reina into the net. [ 48 ] He scored his first hat-trick for Sunderland in a 4–0 victory over Bolton on 9 March 2010. [ 49 ] He scored two goals, one a penalty, but missed two other penalties as they were saved by Heurelho Gomes in a 3–1 victory against former club Tottenham on 3 April. [ 50 ] Bent finished the 2009–10 season with 25 goals in 40 appearances in all competitions, [ 51 ] 24 of which came in the Premier League, amounting to 50% of Sunderland's 48 goals in the league that season. [ 52 ] He was named as Sund — Wikipedia