Panic buy or shrewd purchase? Darren Bent's GBP24 million (HK$298 million) move from Sunderland to Aston Villa has been the big talking point of the transfer window, and he is thrown straight in at the deep end tonight when his new club host title-chasing Manchester City.
Bent's arrival at Villa Park makes this the game of the weekend in the English Premier League, pitching a sleeping giant against an emerging one. Along with Villa boss Gerard Houllier, City's key title rivals will be hoping Bent makes an immediate impact in claret and blue to halt the upward trajectory that has seen City lose only once in 13 league games.
City also will be wary as Bent has already scored a winning goal against them this season - a last-minute penalty in Sunderland's 1-0 home victory in August - and many of his scoring stats are first-rate. In five full seasons in the Premier League, he has finished in the top seven scorers on four occasions including two top-three placings and in that period Wayne Rooney is the only Englishman to have outscored him.
This season Bent has dropped down the standings a little, to joint 10th with eight goals, and that may be one reason for his move. In the past he has thrived as a lone striker and the competition at Sunderland from Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck may have restricted his natural game.
From a betting viewpoint, Bent's record as first goalscorer for the most part is superb, though again there has been a drop-off this season. Twice in the past five full seasons, Bent has led the Premier League in terms of the number of times he has been the first goalscorer - last season an incredible 13 of his 24 goals were the opening goal of the match.
This season he has scored the opener only twice - both from the penalty spot - but that could be a consequence of the more equal sharing of goals at Sunderland following the arrival of Gyan and Welbeck.