Darren Bent was at the centre of an internet controversy last night after a foul-mouthed message to Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, was posted on Twitter, the social networking site.

Bent, the Spurs and England centre forward, is understood to be increasingly frustrated about the slow pace of his transfer to Sunderland as the two clubs haggle over a fee and the size of instalment payments.

The player’s attack was the culmination of a day on which the internet was the focal point of a number of sporting controversies. Phillip Hughes, the Australia batsman, was warned by officials after the news that he had been dropped from the team for the third Ashes Test against England was posted on his Twitter page, while Tranmere Rovers were up in arms after a company that they had appointed to find them a buyer put the club up for sale on eBay.

After Bent was dramatically pulled out of Tottenham’s pre-season tour to China on Monday, details appeared on a Twitter account regarding his proposed move to Wearside. It prompted a local newspaper to urge Sunderland supporters to sign up to Twitter to persuade the striker to join Steve Bruce’s team.

The same account — credited to db10thetruth — which features photographs of Bent working as a DJ and of recent Spurs friendly matches, edged in a different direction yesterday, purporting to illustrate the extent of the 25-year-old’s increasing anger at the slow pace of discussions.

“Seriously getting p***** off now,” was the message posted at lunchtime, followed by “Why can’t anything be simple. It’s so frustrating hanging round doing jack s***.”

After later stating that “Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest,” there then followed more stringent criticism of Levy. “Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go stoke NO do I wanna go sunderland YES so stop f****** around levy [sic].”

While it may not have been the most helpful intervention, dissatisfaction with Tottenham’s negotiating tactics is shared by Sunderland, who believe that interest in Bent from clubs such as Aston Villa and Hull has been overplayed with the aim of encouraging an auction.

Tottenham have been holding out for a figure close to the £16.5 million that they paid Charlton Athletic for Bent in 2007 and at one stage were demanding in excess of £20 million, including add-ons. Given that Spurs have spent less than half of that on buying Peter Crouch from Portsmouth — a forward whom Harry Redknapp, the Spurs manager, clearly believes to be superior to Bent — Sunderland are adamant that they will not be held to ransom.

The Times contacted officials at both Sunderland and Tottenham last night as well as Bent’s representative. While all of them confirmed that Bent is a regular and enthusiastic tweeter, none had established whether the player himself was responsible for the posts.

While Twitter and other social networking sites have provided sportspeople and other celebrities with a direct means of communicating with their fans, some have been more discreet than others.

Tranmere were furious after starting bids of $10 million (about £6 million) were invited on eBay. The Coca-Cola League One club were apparently placed on the site by Dornoch Capital Advisors, an American-based company charged by Peter Johnson, the Tranmere chairman, to find a buyer for his shares. “It’s been done without permission,” Johnson said. “It’s totally inappropriate. I couldn’t believe that anyone was selling the club on eBay. We instructed [Dornoch] to withdraw it immediately.”