Tigers could offer contract to former Arsenal and Spurs winger.
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Hull City manager Steve Bruce is considering offering a contract to free agent David Bentley in a bid to boost his options in his survival-chasing squad, CaughtOffside understands.
The 29-year-old winger is currently without a club, and has been since being released by Tottenham at the start of the summer, with proposed moves to the likes of Stoke, Blackburn and Espanyol failing to come to fruition.
Newly-promoted Hull had hoped to add more attacking options to their squad before the end of the summer, having been linked to the likes of Peter Odemwingie and Shane Long, though they missed out on the pair on deadline day, with West Brom’s late cancellation of Long’s move particularly grating to Bruce.
As Bentley is not attached to a club, he is still free to move as he likes despite the close of the transfer window, and Hull are tempted to sign him as an experienced backup option, despite his drastic dip in form over the last few years.
Bentley started his career as a youth player at Arsenal, and for a while was thought of as one of the club’s most exciting prospects, though he failed to break into the club’s first team at the time due to vast competition for places from the likes of world class players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg.
This saw the then-England Under-21 international seek first-team football elsewhere, and in 2005 he made a permanent switch to Blackburn Rovers, where he found some of the best form of his career under the guidance of manager Mark Hughes, whose appointment at Stoke this summer led to speculation that he might sign Bentley again.
After impressing at Blackburn, he earned a big-money move to Tottenham, joining the club for £15m in what was seen at the time as a great transfer for the top-four hopefuls. However, Bentley flopped spectacularly at White Hart Lane, and quickly became surplus to requirements at the club.
The midfielder was farmed out on loan to four different clubs in his time at Spurs as they failed to persuade anyone to buy him, and he continued to disappoint in his time with the likes of Birmingham City, West Ham, a second spell at Blackburn, and Russian side FC Rostov.
Bringing him to Hull will be seen as something of a gamble by Bruce, but one that he is willing to take at the moment after missing out on some of his targets during the transfer window, and he may choose to take Bentley on trial before offering him a deal to sign with the Tigers.
Hull managed to bring in two other players from Tottenham this summer, with the £5m purchase of Tom Huddlestone, and the signing of youngster Jake Livermore on a season-long loan.