Aston Villa freeze out Darren Bent and leave former England striker to ponder his future Newcastle are understood to have had discussions with Villa over a potential deal for Bent, who could return to the North East, 2½ years after he quit Sunderland to sign for Villa. Newcastle are likely to open their bidding at just £5 million. Bent, though, has been unnerved by the doubts surrounding Alan Pardew's future following Joe Kinnear's arrival as director of football. Bent played for Pardew at Charlton and the Newcastle manager has been the main driving force behind the interest in him. Pardew asked Kinnear to make the signing of Bent a priority when they met to discuss transfer targets almost a fortnight ago, but Newcastle have been pursuing another long-standing target, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But with the Gabon international looking set for a move to Borussia Dortmund rather than Tyneside, Bent looks an increasingly attractive proposition for Newcastle given his proven goalscoring ability in the Premier League. The only complication is that he may be too similar to play alongside Papiss Demba Cissé and Newcastle's owner, Mike Ashley, has previously opposed the signing of players as old as Bent as they have no resale value. Fulham have also expressed an interest in Bent, but like Newcastle believe he is not worth the £8 million Villa are looking for in the current circumstances. Villa had hoped to start a bidding war for the striker, but it now looks certain they will have to lower their asking price.