Darren Bent to Arsenal on loan for a year? Rumours of where Darren Bent will be playing his football next season continue whilst he takes his summer holiday but an interesting morsel today is that he will join Arsenal on loan for the season, with a view to return to The Valley if we get promoted. In return we could see some kind of fee and a couple of the Gunners' younger players come our way such as Mathieu Flamini, Alexandre Song or right back Kerrea Gilbert.

Bent has a rare skill as a young footballer and it is nothing to do with banging in goals. In all of his time at Charlton, he has shown a remarkable composure, intelligence and attitude on and off the field, even in the dark days of Les Reed. He truly has been a honour to watch and support, and Addicks will never forget his contribution to the club.

Equally it is abundantly clear that he likes being at the club and it will be the board that will decide his fate and not the young man himself. I honestly believe that he has little faith in Steve McClaren anyway (who has?) and would be willing to forego one season in the Premiership and a few minutes of international friendlies, to help us back up or at least keep his options open to a return.

Whether the board will cash him in or not remains to be seen but with 20% of anything above the £2.6 million going back to Ipswich, the premium needs to be right. If it is then Benty's legacy could be the funding to allow Pards to rebuild a team with his stamp on it, or then again would the board allow Pards do a deal with his old adversery Wenger for a year?  ¶ 19:29