Paul Lambert denies he has grudge against Darren Bent

Paul Lambert has hit back at Darren Bent and insisted that his decision to exile Aston Villa’s record signing was not a personal grudge.


Lambert, the Villa manager, has revealed that Bent was frozen out due to his lack of impact. The £24 million forward is now operating in the Championship at Derby County.

Villa are approaching nine hours without a Premier League goal and remain the lowest scorers in the four divisions but Lambert still agreed to sanction Bent’s exit this month.

Bent’s Villa career is over. His £65,000-a-week contract expires this summer and he claimed recently that Lambert’s motives for not playing him were “personal”.

Lambert has been infuriated by those suggestions and said that his decision to offload the forward, 30, was vindicated by the lack of interest from top-flight clubs in signing him.

“I think Darren has got to be honest with himself. If you ask anyone here, or any of his team mates, they would tell you, it’s nothing personal,” the Villa manager said. “I never stood in his way to go to any other club.

“The only clubs that came in for him were Championship clubs – not one Premier League club. That says a lot, so it was never personal. He went to Brighton for a month and [they] never wanted to renew it. He’s gone to Derby and never started a game.

“At Fulham, he never played a lot of games towards the tail end. Was it personal with me when he was at Fulham? It is what it is, but it was never personal.”

Lambert’s position is safe at Villa despite their chastening run of seven league games without a win. His team have not scored in the league since Dec 20 and he will attempt to remedy the situation by signing attacking players this month, after already recruiting Carles Gil from Valencia.

The Scot is working on a restricted budget, however, and has admitted that the £4 million demanded by Man­chester City for Scott Sinclair had killed the prospect of any deal. A move for Sinclair on loan is still a possibility, however, if City fail to receive any approaches before the transfer window closes.

Lambert will delay loaning out Jack Grealish until after the FA Cup tie against Bournemouth on Sunday, despite growing interest from Championship clubs. Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest have all expressed an interest in the teenaged winger, who has had limited first-team chances despite signing a four-year contract in October.


By John Percy, Telegraph