Originally Posted by Moschops II
It's one of those things that's all but impossible to know for sure though, Ian - we don't know how he'd cope with being more closely marked, because as yet he hasn't been. We could easily have made a similar argument about Torres before he joined (in fact, I may well have done myself *cough*).
Also, you have to bear in mind that (in an ideal world at least), he'd just be one point of our attack, with the opposition's defence also having to pick up, say, Babel, Gerrard and Torres. At Blackburn, he's pretty much become the man through which all their attacking play goes - so although the opposition might not be set up as defensively overall as they would be against us, he's probably been getting closer individual attention.
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I can only disagree on several levels there mate. Torres was a former U16 world player of the year or something daft, and he was always touted as a potential world class player. I thought he was massively over-rated but it's totally different to Bentley.
He's a player who wasn't getting a look-in at a top club so he moved. He's done well for himself obviously, but nothing suggests to me that he could make that step back up.
You're right in the fact that it's impossible to know if he'd be able to adjust, but I can only go on previous examples (Pennant being one) and that suggests that it would be a mistake.
If we want to compete at a higher level then we need to look at a higher class player. It doesn't mean the lad isn't a good player, just that he's not suitable for us.