Bent cuts the Twitter chat

Tottenham striker Darren Bent's ill-advised attack on chairman Daniel Levy on his Twitter page forced him into an embarrassing apology on Friday night.

The England man criticised Levy on the social networking site as he grew frustrated at what he saw as the lack of progress over his proposed move to Sunderland, but he has now admitted he made an error of judgement and his comments were "inappropriate".

Bent, who did not travel with the Tottenham squad for their trip to China, said in a statement on the Spurs official website: "I appreciate that transfers are seldom straightforward and are often complex. However, after a long period of waiting following my withdrawal from the plane to China, I had become incredibly frustrated by the time these things take and I posted inappropriate comments on my Twitter site."

He added: "I allowed my emotions to get in the way of my better judgement. I regret my actions and did not intend to offend Daniel Levy or anyone with the nature or the content of my posting."

Bent, who finished as Tottenham's leading goalscorer with 17 last season, had earlier vented his frustration on Twitter.

"Seriously getting p***ed off now," read his first message.

The striker then went on to add: "Why can't anything be simple? Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest. Do I wanna go Hull City? NO. Do I wanna go Stoke? NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland? YES."

It is thought Levy is attempting to recoup the £16.5million that Tottenham paid to sign Bent from Charlton two years ago, while Sunderland were hoping to pay £12million rising to £14million.

The move had seemed to be imminent when Bent was pulled off Tottenham's flight to the Far East, but little progress has been made since.