Bruce ready for Darren Bent bid

Jul 26 2009 by Luke Edwards, Sunday Sun

STEVE BRUCE is continuing to circle around Tottenham in the hope of snatching Darren Bent as he gears up for his biggest ever challenge as a Premier League manager.

Sunderland are still looking to add another three or four players to the squad following the arrival of £5m Albanian midfielder Lorik Cana on Friday and Bruce has confirmed for the first time that Bent is one of them.

Bordeaux’s Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh is another, and Bruce is unrelenting in his effort to improve a team he feels should be challenging for a top-10 finish next season.

But Sunderland’s £10-12m valuation of the striker is somewhat short of Spurs’ £16m price tag.

“Darren Bent is another one where we are trying our utmost,” said Bruce, following Sunderland’s 2-0 defeat to Benfica in the Amsterdam Tournament.

“We have tried all summer for Peter Crouch and Darren Bent. Talks are ongoing as we speak at a high level. We hope we can do something with it, but as we have just experienced last week, we can get knocked back as well. We have to agree a fee – obviously it isn’t done yet. But we are talking.

“The one thing I have to do to attract top players here is to make Sunderland an established Premier League team. It is a club that has been up and down too much in recent history.”

Bruce was thrilled to lure Cana from Marseille last week, but he is still smarting at Crouch’s decision to reject a switch to the Stadium of Light because he did not want to live in the North East.

He said: “We were disappointed last week with how the Peter Crouch situation worked out. We put a lot of work and effort into that, but it was the geography that cost us.”

At 48, and with more than 10 years of management experience behind him, Bruce is seasoned enough to realise the transfer market can be a fickle beast.