Bentley told the Mirror: “It became very comfortable for me at Arsenal and that’s the case for a few young English players at some of the big clubs.
“You get brought up with a silver spoon but if you don’t push yourself then you can end up rotting badly rather than progressing. I could have hung around at Arsenal until I was 23 or 24 or gone on and played regular games for another club.
“I had a great education at Arsenal and got to play and train day-in and day-out with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira.
“But I felt I was becoming a bit stifled at Arsenal and even though it was a risk I decided to go to Blackburn. I’ve really felt myself progressing, getting better and improving through playing games.”
