Former Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Bentley has revealed he did not feel the need to prove boyhood club Arsenal wrong after making his move to Ewood Park.
With Rovers currently residing in the Championship, many supporters are often left to reminisce about their former Premier League days, having failed to get close to a return to the top flight since their relegation back in 2012, which included a solitary season in League One seven years ago.
Bentley joined the club in the middling period of their spell in the Premier League between 2001 and their relegation campaign, at a time when the Ewood Park side were under the guidance of Mark Hughes.
Despite being highly-rated in North London during the infancy of his professional career, the playmaker only featured nine times for the Gunners, and after a loan spell with Norwich City the previous campaign, he made another temporary switch to Blackburn in the summer of 2005, before completing a permanent deal in January 2006 after an impressive start to his Rovers career.
But, despite a lack of gametime under Wenger, Bentley holds no grudges against the team where he began his 11-year professional career.
Ex-Blackburn Rovers and England star David Bentley has exclusively spoken to FLW about his former side and John Eustace
It is so often a cliché that when a highly-rated youngster departs a big club, they have an immediate point to prove towards their former employers, eventually with the aim of leaving them with a sense of regret in the years to come after sanctioning a permanent exit, but that was not the case for the then 21-year-old.
Bentley has revealed that he did not feel as though he wanted to prove a point to his former club after making the move to Rovers.
| David Bentley club career record – stats from Transfermarkt | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Blackburn Rovers | 140 | 21 | 22 |
| Tottenham | 62 | 5 | 11 |
| Norwich City | 28 | 2 | 5 |
| Birmingham City | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| Arsenal | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| FK Rostov | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| West Ham | 5 | 0 | 0 |
“No, I just needed to play more football,” Bentley said. “Playing week in, week out was where I was at my best and this showed as I had a good time at Blackburn.
“The environment was good for me, the team was good, we had Morgan Gamst Pederson on one wing, me on the other, Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy up top, and Tugay and Robbie Savage in the middle.
“We had a good work ethic in the team and this showed as we were challenging at the top. My football was good at Blackburn and with Mark Hughes, it was a good personal fit, and I enjoyed my time at Blackburn.”
“It was definitely one of the best times in my career,” he added. “Both on and off the pitch, this was a good time for me at Blackburn.
“Scoring a hat-trick against Manchester United was one of the best moments of my career, so this ties into me playing the best football of my career at Blackburn.
“Having a good environment to play is key and at Blackburn I had this, so I saw myself playing all the time and you get good momentum.”
David Bentley gave Blackburn Rovers supporters some memorable moments
Throughout his initial period in the North West, Bentley enjoyed some of the finest form throughout his career, which provided Rovers fans with numerous memorable moments.
As he cited himself, a hat-trick in a 4-3 victory over Manchester United in February 2006, just a day after signing permanently for the club gave him his first ever Premier League goals for the club, was right up there in terms of those, which aided a 6th-place finish at the end of the campaign, and paved the way for further remarkable goals against RB Salzburg and Wisla Krakow.
This saw Bentley linked with a move to Old Trafford in January 2007, as well as being included for England B and England U21 selection, but after withdrawing from the squad for the 2007 UEFA European U21 Championships, Hughes stated: “I think people should get behind the best young English talent that we have in this country,”
Indeed, Bentley would go on to win seven caps for the England senior team whilst on Rovers’ books between 2007 and 2008, before departing for Tottenham Hotspur in a £15m move and six-year deal.
After returning to the capital, Bentley’s career was blighted by injury problems amid loan spells at Birmingham City, West Ham and FC Rostov, before returning to Blackburn on loan in January 2013, where he only featured seven times – the last appearances of his career – before announcing his retirement in 2014 at the age of just 28.
Whilst many believed Bentley more than proved his potential ability in Blue and White after his move, it clearly wasn’t weighing on his mind, which led to some of the finer moments of his career.
