Premier League - Ince confirms Villa Bentley bid

Eurosport - Tue, 15 Jul 14:18:00 2008

New Blackburn boss Paul Ince has confirmed Aston Villa have made an offer for David Bentley.

FOOTBALL Blackburn David Bentley - 0

Ince saw his side win 2-1 in a friendly at Macclesfield, before admitting the club had received a bid from Villa for the England winger.

But Ince insisted he had heard nothing from Tottenham, and made it plain that he did not want former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson and did not want to sell veteran keeper Brad Friedel.

He said: "When I came to Blackburn, I said I wanted to keep my best players, and Brad Friedel comes into that category. He is one of the best keepers in the Premier League.

"There is no interest from me in Paul Robinson. As far as I am concerned, I want to keep Brad. I do not want to sell Brad, so why should I want Paul Robinson?

"As for the David Bentley situation, that will not go away, only time will tell whether he is here in August.

"He would have played here tonight if he had not been injured, but I know that in football players come and players go.

"We have had an offer from Aston Villa, but I do not want him to go.

"But he is injured and he will have a couple of days off and I hope to take him to Germany on Wednesday for or training trip."

Bentley, 23, has also been linked with Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Red Star Belgrade midfielder Segundo Castillo has claimed he is set to sign for Blackburn.

The Ecuador international's agent revealed last month that he had opened talks with Rovers and the player has now said he is heading for Ewood Park on a reported three-year deal for a fee of £6m.

The 26-year-old said: "This is a very interesting step for my career because I will have the chance to be near the big teams.

"I am very happy I am going to play in the Premier League and what makes me very happy as well is that I have been told that the coach of Blackburn (Paul Ince) has insisted on signing me, and that gives me confidence.

"Next week I will be travelling to England. I hope to play well and open even more doors to more players of my country."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 4 - 23 of 23

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. so g,barry"s back at bodymoor heath tomorow, we"l i bet his face will be as red as a liverpool shirt. anyway joking apart, do i think g barry is worth 18 mil,in my opinion no his not,but still, if he had played for liverpool and villa were interested im sure he would be up for sale at a higher price than 18 mil. now g barry had a fantastic season for villa and the few games he played for england, so i can understand mon is sticking to his guns,18 mil seems a bit much, but after his greedy agent get his teeth into it it will probably more like 14-15 mill that villa will get.

    From MALCOLM H, on Tue 15 Jul 7:46PM

  2. whos james roberts zhest ya @#$%, know ya stuff before gobbin off

    From james g, on Tue 15 Jul 7:42PM

  3. Villa bid for Carson months before Liverpool, or more correctly, Steve Gerrard messed up Gareth Barry's head.
    My forecast is that Barry will join 'The Pool' and end up in 'The Chumpions' League !

    From GrayN, on Tue 15 Jul 2:24PM

  4. MAYBE LIVERPOOL OVERPRICED CARSON CAUSE YOU HAVE OVERPRICED BARRY??

    From darren m, on Tue 15 Jul 2:14PM

  5. Liverpool are running scared of Villa's improvement in the Premier. Just want Barry to try and stop Villa's progress -- not worried too much if he actually plays or not -- this is what all the rich clubs do. Point proved by stating Carson's price to Villa was £9m but surprise/surprise only £4m to Stoke.

    From GrayN, on Tue 15 Jul 1:36PM

  6. He's a good player, but not worth more than 10m

    From Richard C, on Tue 15 Jul 1:08PM

  7. surely there both on the same level???? one on either flank is that not what england need??? or liverpool??

    From darren m, on Tue 15 Jul 12:29PM

  8. totally agree bently isnt over rated he his a top player!!!!BUT what he cant understand is why downing who scored more and had more assits is valued at £10 mil and bently £17mil?????

    From darren m, on Tue 15 Jul 12:20PM

  9. PREMIERSHIP . ALTERVISTA

    From vai su www.premiership.altervista.org, on Tue 15 Jul 12:10PM

  10. going back to jay & Fire's comment about world class players at liverpool you've just sold crouch and your trying to off losd alonso to fund a move for Barry? a player who was being touted around two seasons ago for 2 million with no takers a hand full of games in an england shirt due to injuries and you lot will pay 20 million?

    From R G, on Tue 15 Jul 12:08PM

  11. HAHA i love when people say players are overrated, if u play in a relatively poor team and ur one of the best players then u are not overrated. Now the EPL is not poor therefore Bentley is talented, its not been one season " OMG BENTLEY IS GOOD" it has been talent and potential for 3 years. He is undoubtledly one of the best SetPiece takers in the EPL, the best English setpiece/crosser only except for Beckham/Gerrard and he is still young with time to improve. U dont improve that much if u play with James Roberts lol, but if u train with Gerrard/Torres players like that u will see the difference.

    From zehst, on Tue 15 Jul 12:07PM

  12. As long as he doesn't go to sad Spurs who cares where the whining git goes?

    From Paul Devall, on Tue 15 Jul 12:05PM

  13. Liverpool should buy him - he'll be their best signing since Torres! The man's got talent, character, youth, ambition, power, and great skill.

    From gordon.merk, on Tue 15 Jul 11:36AM

  14. Has Bentley put in a transfer request ? Until he does he stays put as far as I'm concerned. Pennant definitely NOT a good replacement.Spurs yet to make an offer for Bentley - then why have the newspapers been full of their intentions to buy him ? Hope Ince is being truthful over his intentions re Friedel even though he must be replaced in the next couple of seasons.

    From alan s, on Tue 15 Jul 11:23AM

  15. I really agree with the last point. He is over-rated, in my opinion beckham did a better job in that position when he came back into the England team. I would put s wright phillips ahead of him as well.Hope Everton put a bid in for that nippy winger!

    From Richard P, on Tue 15 Jul 10:00AM

  16. Over-rated Lazy Beckham Wannabe

    From Paul C, on Tue 15 Jul 9:10AM

  17. what kind of an idiot is joff1983, since when did villa play for blackburn?!

    From jordenroe, on Tue 15 Jul 8:56AM

  18. (Laughs), so much for Ince saying he would 'keep his best players'. That was always gonna be a stupid thing to say as he was never gonna be able to keep bentley or villa. Chalk that up as mistake number 1 for Ince, he's massively overrated!

    From Jonathan, on Tue 15 Jul 8:47AM

  19. i hope berba moves to united

    From plebologins, on Tue 15 Jul 8:24AM

  20. if a player wants to go let him go, no one is bigger than the club, take Ronaldo for example where is the graditue after what he did during the world cup, the english puplic made HIM welcome after he tried to make a mokery of Rooney, no one new ronaldo beforew he join M.U.

    From vsammut2003, on Tue 15 Jul 2:45AM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account