Bent: Redknapp did not want me

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The 25-year-old completed his move to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday following an unhappy stint at White Hart Lane.

Bent said: "It was the worst two years of my career. Even last year, when I was the club's top scorer, I never actually felt wanted. I didn't feel (manager Harry) Redknapp wanted me there."

Bent was pushed further down Spurs' pecking order last month when boss Harry Redknapp bolstered a strike-force already boasting Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko by signing Peter Crouch.

His relationship with Redknapp hit its lowest ebb in January when the former Charlton forward missed a simple chance against Portsmouth, with Redknapp quipping afterwards that his wife could have scored.

"It's massive to have the support of your manager and that's not been the case for the last two years," said Bent, who was signed by Martin Jol and also played under Juande Ramos. "No-one goes out to deliberately miss."

He added: "My career stood still at Tottenham. There's a lot of politics going on there.

"I scored a lot of goals but it was the hardest two years of my life and it's a weight off my shoulders that I'm finally here.

"I never felt I would stay in the team even when I was scoring goals. Martin Jol was probably the last manager to publicly praise me during my time at Spurs.

"After he went it was always going to be different. In my second season, it was difficult to get in the side even though I was scoring goals. I never really felt a part of it at Tottenham."