FORMER ENGLAND INTERNATIONAL David Bentley is set to swap codes and train with one of Ireland’s most famous Gaelic football teams.
Bentley, who fell out of love with football and retired last year at the age of 29, will spend a short stint with Ulster giants Crossmaglen Rangers, Gaelic Life reports.
Former Armagh defender Aaron Kernan will make the switch in the opposite direction to experience Premier League life at Sunderland.
The swap is expected to form part of a new AIB initiative, modelled on the Trading Places TV show, to see if GAA games are the toughest in the world. Further details about the campaign are expected to be announced tomorrow.
Bentley made his name at Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur before injury and loss of form saw him fall out of favour in the latter years of his career. Capped seven times by England in 2007 and 2008, he retired in June 2014.
“Each year and each stage of my career it got worse both things on and off the pitch,” he said at the time. “I decided to take three months off, then it became six, then nine.”
Kernan, who won three All-Ireland club championships with Cross, retired from the inter-county game in October last year.
