Amid a river of speculation about the future of their most prized asset Charlton Athletic have announced to SkySports News that they have not agreed to sell the player to anyone other than West Ham United. Charlton chairman Peter Varney told Sky Sports News “West Ham matched our valuation… No other club has matched our valuation”.

Bent turned down the opportunity to join the Hammers last week when they agreed to pay in excess of £16 million. The player failed to agree personal terms even though reports suggest that they offered the striker £70k a week in wages.

Charlton’s valuation will be a stumbling block in the transfer, they want a similar amount of money to what Barcelona have agreed to pay for Thierry Henry (£16m). However the players are incomparable, the only things that they have in common is they both play in the same position in the same league for London clubs. Henry is a world-class international striker, who has won a world cup, a European championship and a hatful of domestic titles . Bent on the other hand is far from the finished article, a young striker with just two years experience in the top flight scoring 31 goals at a club that was relegated and only two England caps.

Spurs fans will sigh with relief that their club are reluctant to spend so much money on the young striker. Bringing in a record signing would surely upset the fantastic partnership between Berbatov and Keane. Martin Jol would have to play the club’s most expensive player most probably with Berbatov who is currently the club’s second most expensive player.

If Spurs are to change their attack with the departure of either Mido and/or Defoe, they could do little worse than sign a promising young talent like Julien Faubert alongside a veteran like Christian Vieri. Planning for the future while having an effective strike force for next season.