DARREN Bent’s former employees will not be paying any extra attention to him on Saturday, according to Sunderland boss Steve Bruce.

The Villa hot-shot will line up against his old club for the first time since moving to the Midlands in January and is expected to get a hostile reception.

Ex-Blues boss Bruce admitted that Bent could have became a Black Cats legend had he not moved to Villa Park in a record-breaking deal earlier this year.

But he insisted his focus was now on Villa – and not the England striker.

“The over-riding thing is to focus on Aston Villa and not get sidetracked by the sideshow of Darren Bent’s return to the club,” said Bruce.

“For me, Darren did fantastically well and no-one can deny that.

“His goalscoring record here was quite staggering and I think you could argue the goals he gave Aston Villa when he left us last season probably kept them up.