'One for the future?' he queries. 'Isn't that a bit late? Isn't that something you say about someone who's 19 or 20? I'm 26. I've been around for years. The future!'
Then, however, he lets out a huge roar of laughter. 'I'm kidding,' he says. 'No, I heard he'd said that, and that has to be good. It's great. Hopefully, it means I'll get a good crack at it with England now.'?
Charming man: Darren Bent's adored at Sunderland, but was the only player to score 20 goals in Europe and not go to the World Cup
Bent is a funny guy, and pretty much says it as he sees it. Which is why, he explains after arriving early at Sunderland's training ground for this interview, his now infamous Twitter page is entitled 'The Truth'. Or DB11TT, in its latest form.
'My friends always tell me I just come out and say what I'm thinking,' he says. 'I didn't call it that because I wanted to put the record straight or anything.'
So I ask him what he thinks about a variety of subjects. How he felt about being the only player to score more than 20 goals in a major European league last season and not go to the World Cup. Why some managers have been slow to appreciate his talent. Especially when he is consistently proving he can score goals against big teams without the assistance of a beach ball.
Last month he even scored his first goal for England with what amounted to a super finish against the Swiss.
'I've had to score a lot of goals to get to this point,' he says. 'But I think it's probably made me a stronger person. I had two hard seasons at Tottenham, and when it's going badly, when you're not getting games, when people are criticising you, you do get depressed; you get down. But when I look back now I'm glad for the experience because it's made me a better person today.'
Not that he's particularly happy about missing out on two World Cups. He has spoken in the past of his frustration at seeing a 17-year-old Theo Walcott selected ahead of him, but four years on it hurt that much more.
'In 2006 it was a bit easier to take because I'd just finished my first season in the Premier League with Charlton. I'd done really well but I could sort of understand it because I hadn't been playing in the Premier League that long.
'But this time I was really disappointed. To get that close. To be part of the squad that went to Austria for the training camp only to then miss out. After the World Cup in Germany, I made a promise to myself to make sure I was on the plane for the next one. So I tried as hard as I could to get there, but it didn't happen.'
The 25 goals in 40 games he scored for Sunderland last season should probably have been enough to avoid such disappointment, given that it was good enough for everyone else. 'I did start to wonder if it was me, if I'd done something wrong' he admits. 'But I don't think that's the case. I've just got to kick on and try and get to the European Championships.'
It can't be him, because Bent comes across as the kind of player any manager would want to have around. While Peter Crouch responded to Capello giving his players a few days off this week by nipping off to Dubai with his partner, Bent chose to join the non-international players at Sunderland in training every day.?
Magic moment: Bent fires in his first goal for England, against Switzerland last month and is congratulated afterwards by Steven Gerrard (below)
But it's not just the commitment he shows to his football that makes him an appealing prospect. Or the fact that he is teetotal. It's his reputation for being a thoroughly charming bloke.
Sunderland supporters took to him because he was so expressive in his desire to move to the club last year, and because of the way he has embraced life in the North East. But Bent is unusual in this modern era of millionaire footballers for the relationships he has formed with certain football writers in the region. While many of his contemporaries view the media with fear and suspicion, Bent has formed genuine friendships.
He claims this stems from his empathy with the North East. The sense that, rather like him, the area is not always appreciated.
WHO WILL FABIO CHOOSE? Top English scorers in the Premier League:Bent: 5Carroll, Walcott: 4Downing, Gardner, Gerrard: 3
Top scorers of any nationality in thePremier League:Berbatov, Drogba, Malouda: 6Bent, Tevez: 5
Bent's England record:Appearances 7Minutes on pitch 268Goals 1
He has only played once a season forEngland since 2005 - except in 2009-10, when he appeared twice. His only goal came in last month's match with Switzerland.
'The North East has a lot to offer,' he says. 'People asked me when Iwas leaving Tottenham, "why do you want to go all the way up there?" But that's just the ignorance of people who think you've got to be in London or Manchester.
'I like the place. I like the people. Iplay for Sunderland but I live in Newcastle and the people are great there, too. I get the fans telling me I signed for the wrong club but it's a really nice part of the world.'
It was one particular Twitter outburst that cemented his relationship with the supporters at the Stadium of Light. The tweet when he told Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to 'stop f*****g around' and give the green light to the transfer. He accused Levy of trying to create an auction to get the price up. 'Do Iwanna go Hull City. No. Do I wanna go Stoke. No. Do I wanna go Sunderland. Yes.' He was fined heavily by Tottenham for his rant, but explains how frustrated he had become.
He had endured a torrid time at White Hart Lane, culminating in the moment Harry Redknapp suggested his wife could have converted a goalscoring opportunity Bent had squandered against Portsmouth. He wanted out.
'I've had to curb Twitter a bit since the Levy incident, but these things can happen,' he says. 'We had the Kevin Pietersen thing recently. And Ryan Babel at Liverpool. I think it's when people are at their most frustrated. They let off steam.
'When I did it, emotion got the better of me at a time when I was desperate to move to this club. I was sat in the players' lounge for four days here just waiting to be given the go-ahead to sign. I couldn't train because I wasn't insured. It was a crazy situation.
'I sent the tweet before that. After I got kicked off the plane for the pre-season tour of China.
'I'm sitting there, seatbelt on, messing with my Blackberry, waiting for the call. All day my agent had been on, talking to Tottenham, asking them if they were sure they wanted me going to China.?
Leading the way: Bent has once again hit goalscoring form for Sunderland this season
'Someone at the club was just being ignorant, saying I had to go, when they knew a deal was close.
'So anyway, they are about to shut the doors of the plane, when I'm told to get off. They had to delay the plane about another 40 minutes so they could then get my bags off.
'Even after that it took another week for the deal to go through. I couldn't train with Tottenham because they were in China and I couldn't train with Sunderland because I wasn't under contract.
'I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs and that was when the outburst came.'
He is much happier at Sunderland. 'You get the best out of me when you back me. I wanted to come here because the manager made me feel wanted and I could feel this was a club with ambition - with great fans, a great stadium. Everything.
'But the support of the manager is so important. People made too much of what Harry Redknapp said. But it was only at Tottenham that I didn't have the backing of the manager. I enjoyed that support at Charlton with Alan Curbishley, Alan Pardew and Iain Dowie. And I've got it now with Steve Bruce.
'I'm not someone who sulks if things aren't going my way. I wasn't getting too many games at Spurs but I'd still walk into training every day with a smile on my face. I never want to be one of those guys who affects the whole dressing room if they're not playing. Being miserable doesn't help anyone. I can't stand people like that.'?
So he will be no bother whatever happens over the next few days with England. Bent dearly hopes to force his way into Capello's starting line-up for Tuesday's European Championship qualifier against Montenegro but if 'the future' is not quite then, he will accept the England manager's decision.
'I'm very happy at the moment,' he adds. 'I was delighted to get my first international goal last month. That was a big weight off my shoulders, because it proved I can score at that level.
'That said, I always thought I could anyway. I spoke to Andy Cole not so long ago and he was saying how people would say that he wasn't an international footballer. And yet he was scoring goals for Manchester United in the Champions League.
'The Premier League is the best in the world and I score plenty of goals, and against the top teams. So I definitely feel I can deliver at international level. I have good movement as well as pace. I think I'm an intelligent player.
I used to study Michael Owen a lot, watching his movement. The way he reads the game. His anticipation. When he makes his runs. You can be as fast as you want, but, if you don't anticipate where the ball is going to drop, pace is useless.'
And useless is certainly not a word Capello would associate with Bent.
?Bent urges England boss Capello to let him loose against MontenegroNow watch him go! Sunderland boss Steve Bruce tips Darren Bent to go on England goal rushCapello hails Sunderland hitman Bent as England star of the futureSUNDERLAND FC
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail