Darren Bent says Tottenham had a ‘scary’ striker Man Utd should’ve signed, it’s not Harry Kane

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Darren Bent believes Manchester United missed out on signing a top-class Tottenham striker, but it wasn’t Harry Kane.

Manchester United have been interested in Harry Kane for several years, dating back to his time with Spurs, and the frontman could leave Bayern Munich this summer.

He has already scored 18 goals in all competitions this season and might be available for just £60million. TBR Football recently revealed that Real Madrid want to sign Kane.

However, Darren Bent has named another former Spurs ace that United should have made a push for.

Darren Bent says Man United missed out on Jermain Defoe

Jermain Defoe scored 163 goals in the Premier League for several clubs, including West Ham, Tottenham and Sunderland, but the bulk of his top-flight heroics came at Spurs.

A natural goalscorer, the now 43-year-old was renowned for his penalty area prowess, and Bent is confident he would have succeeded at Old Trafford.

“I think we spoke about him before, didn’t we?” the pundit said on talkSPORT.

“I was having a look earlier about some of the strikers. I was looking at Man United, for instance. Seeing where he could have gone, and the amount of strikers. I mean, I can’t find the list, but he was better than what was at United at that time. Like, come on.

“His finishing with both feet, scary. He could run in behind. He could hold the ball up. Technically, he’s one of the best.”

In a turning point in his career, Defoe previously revealed that he had come close to playing for United.

Jermain Defoe on his potential Man United move

The striker joined Spurs from West Ham back in 2004, despite interest from both United and Arsenal.

The Hammers had been relegated and a host of their top young players, also including Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, were almost certain to leave. But in the end, Defoe was snapped up by Spurs for a fee of just £7million.

Opening up on why the United deal never happened, Defoe said: “Louis Saha had gone to United already and he was on fire.”

Saha moved to the Red Devils from Fulham during the January transfer window and hit the ground running, scoring seven goals in his first ten matches.

Had he struggled to find his feet, it could have been Defoe moving to United instead.