David Bentley surprise inclusion in Tottenham squad list

David Bentley had been loaned to West Ham but suffered a serious injury (GETTY IMAGES)

David Bentley could make a shock appearance for Tottenham before the end of the season after he was named in the club's 25-man squad for the rest of the current campaign.

Bentley was shipped out on loan to West Ham last summer after being told he was not part of manager Harry Redknapp's first-team plans.

That spell came to a premature end in October, however, when he suffered a serious knee injury which required an operation.

It was feared that the injury could keep the winger out for the rest of the season, but he now could feature for Tottenham after being named in the 25-strong group which was submitted to the Premier League this afternoon.

Bentley has failed to live up to the hype that surrounded his £15million move from Blackburn four years ago and spent last season on loan at Birmingham, where he was considered only a fringe player after failing to impress then Blues manager Alex McLeish.

Ryan Nelsen completed his free transfer in time to be included in Tottenham's squad, which lists all the players allowed to play for the first team for the rest of the campaign, and fellow new boy Louis Saha also features.

Forward Simon Dawkins, whose only first-team game for Tottenham came in November 2008, also makes the cut.

The 24-year-old spent 2011 on loan at American side San Jose Earthquakes after being re-signed by Tottenham last March.

He had previously been released from his contract in 2009 after a series of injury problems.

South Africa centre-back Bongani Khumalo had his season-long loan at Reading cancelled last month after failing to break in to the Royals' first team, but he is included on Tottenham's list after Redknapp chose to allow defenders Sebastien Bassong and Vedran Corluka leave the club on Tuesday night.

PA