Spurs are one of the best, says £16m Bent

They all say something similar when they switch clubs, but Darren Bent's words seemed heartfelt yesterday.

"In my heart of hearts I always wanted to come to Tottenham," he said following the completion of his £16.5m move from Charlton Athletic. "Everyone wants to play at the top level and Tottenham have showed in the last couple of years that they are one of the best teams in Europe, so it's the perfect place for me to continue my development.

"There are some fantastic players at the club. I'm looking to be part of a team and hopefully help us break into the top four."

Tottenham broke their club record to sign the England striker, the fee being paid in instalments over three years and only the last £1m being performance-related. Along with the £10m capture of the Wales left-back Gareth Bale from Southampton, the Spurs manager, Martin Jol, and sporting director, Damien Comolli, have moved early in the summer as they look to improve on last season's fifth-place finish in the Premier League.

"They seem to be getting better and better every season and I would love to be part of that," Bent added.

Jol's side finished eight points behind Arsenal in the final Champions League place, but while their north London rivals have lost Thierry Henry to Barcelona, Spurs have bolstered a squad who scored more than 100 goals last season.

The fee for Bent eclipses the club-record £11m paid to Dynamo Kiev for Sergei Rebrov seven years ago and the £10.9m Bayer Leverkusen received for Dimitar Berbatov last summer.

It is understood Bent's arrival does not compromise Berbatov's role at the club, despite Manchester United and Chelsea being linked with the Bulgaria striker earlier in the summer.

Berbatov and Robbie Keane were Jol's first-choice pair for the big games last season, with Jermain Defoe scoring 18 goals when given his chance.

Jol has praised Defoe for his attitude while biding his time for opportunities but there is inevitably a degree of uncertainty over where he stands at Tottenham, even with the Egypt striker Mido expected to leave.

Bent and Defoe want to play in the European Championship at the end of next season, with Spurs' investment in exciting English talent playing a part in Bent's decision to sign.

"Tottenham have a lot of young English players and it's a young squad, it's a squad going forward and that's the direction I wanted to take," Bent said. "It's exciting times for me and the club, hopefully I'll show what I can do at Tottenham and we'll go on to win things."

Ipswich, where Bent started his career, will receive £2.58m as part of the deal that took him to Charlton two years ago.

Their Championship rivals signed Chris Iwelumo and Luke Varney from Colchester and Crewe respectively last month in preparation for Bent's departure. The Charlton chief executive, Peter Varney, said some of the fee will be spent on players as they attempt to bounce back to the Premier League.