CHARLTON plc chairman Richard Murray has re-iterated the club's stance on the future of leading scorer Darren Bent by stressing that he is not for sale.

Mr Murray was responding to a barrage of phone calls from national press reporters as speculation mounted that the England international was about to be sold to West Ham in a record £15million deal before Wednesday's closure of the transfer window.

Exasperated by continued rumours of Bent's impending departure, Mr Murray insisted: "Darren isn't going anywhere.

"We've seen another batch of press speculation over the weekend and the club has been inundated with journalists wanting to know how much we want and where he is going.

"Well, let's make it nice and simple - he's not going anywhere. Darren is an extremely important part of our squad and he isn't leaving us."

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