Harry Redknapp accused Sunderland of double standards last night over their attempts to sign Darren Bent. The Tottenham Hotspur manager reacted angrily to Sunderland's charge that the North London club had led a concerted attempt to unsettle Kenwyne Jones by alleging that the Wearside club had pursued their interest in Bent without Spurs' knowledge and approval.

Tottenham, who entertain Stoke City at White Hart Lane tonight, had offered Bent in part exchange for Jones, the Trinidad & Tobago striker, during discussions between the clubs two weeks ago, but the deal appeared to have died when Sunderland insisted that Jones was not for sale. However, Redknapp claimed that Sunderland have been speaking to Bent's representatives about a possible transfer, after being told so by the forward.

“Darren came to see me to say, ‘I hear Sunderland want me, what do you know?'” Redknapp said. “I said, ‘I haven't spoken to anyone and if they are interested they will have to ring the chairman.' He said, ‘Well, my agent says they want me.' So someone is talking to someone. I could say they [Sunderland] have done the same thing to Darren Bent because his agent has obviously been talking to someone at Sunderland to know they are interested. So if they are mentioning Darren Bent, why are they mentioning Darren Bent? Is someone upsetting Darren Bent?”

The wrangle will strain further Redknapp's relationship with Bent, who was angered when his manager joked that his wife could have scored with the kind of free header that the striker missed against Portsmouth nine days ago.

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Football is one of the greatest things in the world but it’s not perfect. It used to be perfect. Before money and television and the Bosman ruling and Baby Bentleys and roastings and tattoos and takeovers and no standing and agents and prawn sandwiches and rotation. These are the 50 worst things about modern football. It could have been 500

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Redknapp said that the club were encouraged to show interest in Jones because Sunderland had sent out mixed signals about the player's future. Tottenham were reported to have been prepared to pay £15 million for the player, who had moved from Southampton to Sunderland for £6million at the beginning of last season, but that deal appears to be dead. “Last night he [Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman] thought that Jones had signed a new contract at Sunderland, so I think the deal's off,” Redknapp said.

Responding to suggestions that Spurs had sought to unsettle Jones, Redknapp said that there had been discussions about a deal between the two chairmen. “I don't know why Niall Quinn is talking to Daniel if they don't want to sell him,” Redknapp said. “Why do you talk to someone if you don't want to sell someone?”

Jones is among a number of forwards whom Tottenham have tried unsuccessfully to sign, with the club drawing a blank in their efforts to lure Carlton Cole and Craig Bellamy to White Hart Lane.

Redknapp remains keen on Fred, the Brazil striker, whose agents have claimed that Tottenham have offered the player a 4-year contract worth £50,000 a week to sign from Lyons. The French side hope to receive £8million, with clubs in Spain interested, despite him being out of contract this summer.

Tottenham have, however, signed Pascal Chimbonda, the full back, from Sunderland and Carlo Cudicini, the goalkeeper, on a free transfer from Chelsea yesterday. Cudicini could make his debut against Stoke this evening because Heurelho Gomes is a doubt with a thigh injury. Chimbonda was not registered in time to play and Wilson Palacios, the midfield player who joined from Wigan Athletic last week, is suspended.

Stoke have used a four-day training camp in Dubai to integrate James Beattie, the forward, and Matthew Etherington, the former Tottenham left winger, who were signed this month. Both clubs are among the five teams languishing on 21 points at the foot of the table.

Tottenham Hotspur (possible; 4-4-2): C Cudicini — V Corluka, M Dawson, J Woodgate, B Assou-Ekotto — A Lennon, T Huddlestone, D Zokora, L Modric — J Defoe, R Pavlyuchenko.

Stoke City (possible; 4-4-2): T Sorensen — A Wilkinson, R Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, D Higginbotham — R Delap, G Whelan, Amdy Faye, M Etherington — R Cresswell, J Beattie.

Referee: M Riley.