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Bent delighted with Black Cats life
Darren Bent has expressed his happiness with life at Sunderland after a spell at Tottenham in which he feels he was never accepted by the fabs.
Spurs signed Bent for £16.5million from Charlton in 2007 but the striker's time at White Hart Lane was not entirely successful as he struggled to find the back of the net during his first season at the club.
He hit the target more often during his second campaign but Bent was offloaded to Sunderland over the summer and returns to his former club for the first time on Sunday.
The 25-year-old feels like he has been given a new lease of life in the North East but still harbours some bad feelings about his time at Tottenham.
"It has been fantastic moving to Sunderland. Being at Spurs I was on a downer," he told the Daily Mirror.
"People were criticising me left right and centre, questioning me, which in my eyes was ridiculous.
"I still scored 17 goals last season which made me top goalscorer and people were still criticising me and speculating about my role.
"I was fighting an uphill battle before I went there. I knew they had Defoe, Berbatov and Keane.
"Every club needs four good strikers they always say. It wasn't just my decision to go there. Other people were influencing it as well.
"So by the time I got there it was a bit like: 'Why is he here?'."
Bent revealed his delight to have moved to the Stadium of Light, saying that the feeling of being wanted by the fans has added to his motivation.
"It's completely different at Sunderland. I had thousands of people on my Twitter page saying we want you here," he added.
"I just wanted to get up here and play for these people. It is the faith they have showed in me that makes me want to go the extra mile for them."
