Darren Bent admits that the uncertainty over his future last month affected him but reckons he might have come out of it a better player.

Charlton had a £3m bid for the England U21 international rejected by the Club at the end of August, with other also clubs reported to be interested in the striker.

In an exclusive interview in Saturday's matchday programme, Darren says: "It was a difficult time for me.

"Everywhere I looked there was talk of me going to Charlton and everywhere I went, people from all angles were asking me if I was leaving Ipswich.

        Darren -  improvement

"That is all I seemed to be getting at that stage and I am not pretending it didn't affect me.

"It was harder for me to concentrate on my football but then I got to the stage where I took a look at it, thought to myself 'I'm an Ipswich Town player and I love it at this Club' and just got on with it.

"And a lot of people have said to me that I seemed to have gone up a gear after Charlton made their offer.

"It's not for me to say but during that period I tried to work even harder in training so that I could stay focussed on my football."