Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp insists he has no regrets about selling Darren Bent over the summer, despite the striker's barnstorming start to the season with Sunderland.

Bent will return to White Hart Lane tomorrow for the first time since his acrimonious £10million departure from Spurs in August looking to add to his tally of eight goals.

The 25-year-old is the leading English goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League and remains an outside bet to make Fabio Capello's England squad for next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Redknapp maintains there was no bad blood between him and Bent, who was never first choice at Spurs under the former Portsmouth manager, and reckons all parties concerned were happy with the transfer.

"Darren Bent scored goals for us and I had no problem with him," Redknapp said.

"I think our chairman (Daniel Levy) did a deal where it pushes up to £16m on appearances and goals, so it was a good deal for us and a good deal for Darren.

"He's playing regularly for Sunderland and is becoming a big player in their team. He is now somewhere where he is able to play regularly and score goals and he's shown what he can do. He's a good player."

Bent launched an infamous Twitter rant at the Tottenham board as he sought a move and was also unhappy about Redknapp publicly blasting him for missing a golden chance in a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth back in January, the Spurs boss saying: "My missus could have scored that."

Bent has settled quickly up in Wearside, scoring some crucial goals against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, leading some critics to claim Redknapp made an error in selling him.

But Redknapp added: "It will never haunt me, whatever he does at Sunderland.

"It's a game of opinion. People move on and prove other people wrong. Who knows, he may not have scored any goals here at Tottenham.

"What he has to do is let his football do the talking. He's scoring goals so just get on with it. He has to keep scoring goals all year and get in the World Cup squad."

Redknapp does not miss Bent because he has the likes of Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko competing for places.

Defoe should return to the starting XI for tomorrow's game after serving a three-match ban for stamping during the away win at Portsmouth on October 17.

The England striker will be charged with the task of getting Tottenham back to winning ways after successive defeats to Stoke and Arsenal, reverses that have halted their momentum after an impressive opening to the season.

"It's nice to have him available," said Redknapp, whose side are currently fifth in the table.

"He was in great goalscoring form and I felt it (his suspension) has cost us quite dearly. He's back now and he's got to make it up to us now for being sent off and costing us some vital points."
Another England international who could be back tomorrow is Aaron Lennon.

Lennon injured an ankle towards the end of the Stoke defeat a fortnight ago and was expected to miss out, but Redknapp is giving him a 50/50 chance of featuring, which will also be good news for Capello with England's friendly with Brazil in Qatar looming.

"He worked very hard yesterday so we have to wait and see how he is tomorrow," Redknapp said.
"If he's fit to play tomorrow, I wouldn't stop him playing for his country. It's a great honour to play for England."