Is Southend United’s Daniel Bentley the most wanted goalkeeper in England?

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It’s not often that a 22-year-old is considered one of the best players ever to have played for a club, particularly when their position is in goal. That said, there aren’t many goalkeepers with over 140 first team appearances in the Football League at that age, but that’s the case with Southend United’s Daniel Bentley.

Linked with various Premiership and Championship clubs in the summer, he was signed by the Blues after he was released by Arsenal in his early teens, the Basildon based youngster came through the Shrimper’s youth system before establishing himself in the first team in 2013.

He was famously brought on as a substitute for penalties by Paul Sturrock deep into injury time in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area semi-final tie at Oxford in 2012, and went on to save the deciding penalty. In his very first season as first choice, the 2013/14 season, he kept 19 clean sheets, a remarkable figure for even the most experienced of goalkeepers.

He followed it up in 2014/15 by smashing several club records, including Mervyn Cawston’s 30-year-old record of consecutive home clean sheets, with Bentley reaching 12 in a row between October and April, winning the club’s Player of the Year vote in the process. He then earned promotion with Southend in a dramatic play-off final, saving the deciding spot kick from Wycombe’s Sam Wood after Joe Jacobson’s free-kick had deflected off the keepers back and into his own net in extra time.

Still only in his third season as first choice, the stopper has been linked with QPR, Leeds, Hull, West Ham and Sunderland and was given a place in the League Two PFA Team of the Year last season. However, the step up to League 1 football has provided Bentley with the biggest challenge of his career so far, and it has been one that he’s risen to.

The Blues rejected several offers for him in the summer, the highest reportedly being QPR’s offer of £1.25 million, but Bentley’s contract is now into the final six months, and he has in fact turned down a new deal at Roots Hall. Unlike most similar scenarios, there is no anger from the fans or the club, with the vast majority of the opinion that he deserves a big move, but there is no denying that his value is falling as a result.

With eight clean sheets in 29 games this season, Bentley has continued to impress and produced numerous man of the match displays, notably away at Coventry and in the Essex derby at Colchester, but he has also found his form questioned for the first time in his career. An error saw Doug Loft’s cross-cum-shot caught by the wind and taken over Bentley’s head to give Gillingham a late equaliser in October, only a week after he conceded a penalty on the edge of the box to give Barnsley an early lead at Roots Hall. The festive period brought more misery for the youngster, with a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Millwall followed up by a 3-0 defeat to Doncaster, with Bentley being responsible for their final goal after miscontrolling a back pass.

There is little doubt that Bentley will one day go on to play at a higher level, but there are question marks over whether he is ready to do so just yet. This is only his first season out of the basement division, and while Phil Brown has labelled him a “future England number one”, he will still have to prove himself to walk into any Championship side.

It is notoriously difficult for any goalkeeper after making a January move, with them usually finding that a manager has a settled defensive unit and is reluctant to disrupt that midway through the season, providing there are no injuries. Bentley is fortunate in that he is getting regular game time at a young age at Southend, something which he may struggle to find if he moves this transfer window.

A move in the summer seems best for both parties, with Southend still able to recover a fee by tribunal, and Bentley free to move on to one of the many potential suitors. Southend have capable cover in the form of young Ted Smith, another local lad who has been capped by England under 20s this season, who could follow in Bentley’s footsteps in a few years’ time.

Another alternative is the possibility of him leaving in January, but being loaned back to Roots Hall for the remainder of the season, which could interest some of the bigger sides, such as Everton. Bentley undoubtedly has the potential to play in the Premier League one day, and these clubs could do well to follow the path of Stoke, who signed Jack Butland in 2013 and loaned him to various Championship clubs before replacing Asmir Begovic after the Bosnian signed for Chelsea. With Tim Howard ageing at Everton, Fabianski struggling at Swansea and John Ruddy reportedly on his way out of Norwich, Bentley could be appearing on these side’s radars.

Shrimpers fans will be hoping that he will still be wearing the number one shirt at Roots Hall come February, as he continues to be the rock in a defensive minded Phil Brown set up that is surprising League 1 with a shock push for the play-offs. Whilst his future remains unclear, Bentley can rely on the fact that he will depart Roots Hall on good terms. Not only did he almost single handedly guarantee promotion last season, becoming a firm fan favourite in the process as a local lad and a star player, but has also handled a difficult situation very professionally for such a young player in a world where agents and money change everything for most youngsters.

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