Bentley on Spurs move
New Spurs signing David Bentley has spoken following his ‘dream’ move to White Hart Lane.
Bentley said: “First of all I have to earn my right to be at this football club, a club that is in my heart. My aim is to have fans come and enjoy watching me perform for the team I’ve dreamed of playing for.
“I’d love to be an entertainer like [Paul] Gascoigne. I desperately want that. But I know I have to start off by earning the right.”
The 23-year-old revealed that Spurs missed out signing him as a kid.
He said: “No one from Spurs scouted me at all, though I lived just up the road. All my mates gave me some stick when I went to Arsenal but I have to say it was a great environment to grow up in.
“I was coming through at the time of the Invincible team, which went an entire season unbeaten in 2003-04 and set record after record.
“I just wanted to play regular first-team football. It has never been about money with me.
“No one forced me to leave but Blackburn offered me what I wanted – a real chance to play.
“Once I knew Spurs were in and interested – I’ll be honest and admit I thought I’d never end up here – there was only ever going to be one team I’d sign for.
“I was trying my nuts off to get here. Every day I was going through it, on the phone, trying my hardest to come here.
“My friends are all season ticket holders and they were on the phone to me every day. It has been an emotional time for me.
“All my mates, the Tottenham boys, loved it, absolutely loved it when I signed. They all have Tottenham tattoos up their arms and down their legs. They’re mad fans.
“They kept phoning to tell me ‘You’ve got to come to Tottenham’. I told them ‘I want to but they don’t want me’.
“It means the world to come here. My head and all my passion will be channelled into doing well for Tottenham. My mates are buzzing now – just like me.”
On competition for places, he said: “I’m excited by our strong midfield. I want to play with top players. Look at [Luka] Modric and [Giovani] Dos Santos, [Jermaine] Jenas and [Aaron] Lennon.
“I feel I can do a job in most places. Last season I played in central midfield, up front and on the left but I played the majority of the time on the right.
“It’s whatever is the manager’s decision. They’ve given me the No 5 shirt. I’ll play centre-half, too, if they need me!”
The England international has also revealed that he was a fan of Spurs legend Paul Gascoigne when he was younger.
“Gascoigne was my favourite player growing up. The first football top I ever got was a Tottenham shirt with his name on the back.
“Gazza was great, a footballer who enjoyed his football, enjoyed his life and just played with that freedom. A lot of players looked up to him.”
He added: “I can still see Gazza scoring at White Hart Lane with no boot on! He ran through and put the ball in the bottom corner. That’s my best memory of him.”
Tags: David Bentley, Paul Gascogine
