Fully Bent on justifying his price tag

English Premier League/Arsenal v Tottenham: Daniel Taylorfinds the young Tottenham striker remarkably relaxed and confident - though still nursing the wounds of his World Cup omission

The problem with football these days? Everyone is so damn impatient. Managers live in fear of the sack if they go three games without a win, supporters boo as soon as someone misplaces his first pass and, as Darren Bent can testify, new signings can forget about the old theory that they should be allowed a year or so to settle in. Nobody seems to have any time any more. Everyone wants success to be instantaneous.

Bent has heard all the mocking chants of "what a waste of money". He has grown wearily accustomed to being derided as a €23 million white elephant and, in the interests of self-preservation, he has had to develop selective hearing at certain grounds.

It has been a difficult six months since joining Tottenham Hotspur and, if he plays in today's north London derby - "if" being the word, given he has started only seven league games this season - he knows he will be an easy target for the Arsenal fans and maybe a few in the Tottenham end.

"It's the way of the world," he says. "People are always going to pick out someone who cost a lot of money and, so far, it's fair to say Tottenham haven't seen the best of me. But it's been only six months. Some people go on like I've been here two years and it simply hasn't worked. But it will work and I will turn around."

If he wanted to argue the toss, he could cite that some of Arsenal's more celebrated players - Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires, to name two - hardly pulled up trees in their first seasons or, widening the argument, that Cristiano Ronaldo flickered only sporadically when he first arrived at Manchester United.

Yet Bent comes across as remarkably laid back for someone under such close scrutiny. This is his first interview since signing from Charlton Athletic and he is acutely aware many of the questions might have a negative slant. Yet nothing is out of bounds and he does not insist on vetting what is written. And the only flicker of anger is when the conversation turns to Sven-Goran Eriksson, the man who selected Theo Walcott ahead of him for last year's World Cup. "I saw him when we played Manchester City recently but I wouldn't even look at him," he says.

Otherwise Bent is calm and relaxed and does not seem overly fazed by his return of five goals in six months.

"I'm not overconfident or arrogant but I do believe in my ability," he says. "I'd like to have played more and it isn't nice sometimes to be left out. It's difficult when you find yourself in and out of the team all the time. But I knew this might be the case because there were fantastic strikers here already in Robbie [ Keane], Jermain [ Defoe] and Berba [ Dimitar Berbatov].

"It was always going to be difficult to get a regular place but, ultimately, it will make me a better player being in this kind of competition. I could have gone to a few other clubs and been playing every week but it was Tottenham I wanted to join and I don't regret that one bit.

"I still believe in myself. I'm still working hard because I know the minute I stop doing that is when it all goes to pot. But I don't think that will ever happen with me. I'm still convinced I can have the same impact for Tottenham that I had for Charlton. I'm still convinced it's only a matter of time."

He is encouraged by the fact the club's new manager, Juande Ramos, seems to have more confidence in him than did Martin Jol. But that, in itself, throws up more questions. Why would the man who believed Bent was worth a larger transfer fee than Thierry Henry cost Barcelona seem so reluctant to play him?

"It was surprising for me," says Bent. "He bought me but then he didn't really want to play me. I used to find it frustrating and I can remember speaking to my mum and dad about what to do. I'm not the type to go knocking on the manager's door but I was starting to wonder, 'What is going on here?' Thankfully the new guy has come in now."

Note the "thankfully".

"Listen," says Bent. "Away fans are always going to throw my price tag back at me but it wasn't me who thought of that figure. Charlton made it up and I'm just happy Tottenham paid it. People are going to aim it at me but it's really nothing to do with me."

He sounds as if he means it, though Trevor Francis used to say the same thing after becoming England's first £1-million (€1.39 million) footballer, then admitted after he had retired that it was actually the bane of his life.

"Not me," Bent reiterates, shaking his head. "I don't even think about it."

He is, however, bemused by some of the attention that comes with costing so much.

"There was even one story about me going to a private gym for some extra fitness lessons," he says. "I was just there because my girlfriend was a member."

And so the talk turns to Eriksson and, specifically, Bent's omission from the World Cup. Bent has never expressed his anger before but it is clear the resentment is still eating away - perhaps understandably, after figuring in every England squad for the two years before the finals and being the leading English scorer in the Premier League.

"On the last day of the season Curbs [ Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager] took me off at half-time," Bent remembers. "He said, 'You're going to the World Cup this summer and I don't want to risk you getting an injury here'."

When his mobile rang and Eriksson informed him he had been left out, the first person Bent rang was his father, Mervyn, a former player himself. "He started effing and blinding down the phone. My mum was the same too. I rang some of my friends, team-mates, Richard Murray [ the Charlton chairman] and Curbs. Everyone was fuming.

"I was in shock when I spoke to Sven and it was only after I heard the way my mum and dad were talking that I thought, 'Hang on a second'. I had so many things I wanted to say to him but it was a withheld number. Smart guy. It's nothing against Theo Walcott because he's an outstanding young player but after working my nuts off all season that was a big disappointment and, in the end, it was proven that Sven didn't take enough strikers."

An interesting side note: Bent responded to Eriksson's snub by "using it to score even more goals" last season - in total 15 in 35 appearances for a Charlton side doomed for relegation.

In other words he has previous when it comes to proving people wrong and, listening to him, it is something he intends to put into practice again. The 23-year-old grew up in Tooting as an Arsenal fan - "Ian Wright was my hero" - and some critics might joke that, yes, he has been playing like a Gooner. But all he wants is a bit of patience.