 On 17 January 2011 , Bent submitted a transfer request , amid reports that Aston Villa had made a club record £ 18 million bid for him , which was rejected . Villa then submitted an improved offer of £ 18 million , potentially rising to £ 24 million , which was then accepted . The following day , Bent completed his move to Villa and signed a four @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half @-@ year deal . He scored the winning goal on his debut against Manchester City in a 1 – 0 victory at Villa Park . Bent scored his second Villa goal in his third appearance for his side when he completed the full 90 minutes against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 3 – 1 away defeat . Bent scored both of Villa 's goals in their 2 – 1 away victory over Arsenal in the penultimate game of the season on 15 May . The first was a nicely crafted volley after he chested down a Kyle Walker chipped pass , with the second coming a few minutes later after a slip from Arsenal 's Thomas Vermaelen allowed Ashley Young the time to thread a pass through the Gunners ' defence and Bent to sidefoot home for 2 – 0 . He finished the season with 9 goals in 16 Premier League appearances for Villa , becoming the club 's joint top @-@ scorer with Young , despite only joining in January . He was also the top English goalscorer in the Premier League and the fourth highest scorer overall that season with 17 goals in total , eight of which were scored for Sunderland . 
