DAVID Bentley today admitted he just wants to be loved as he continues to adjust to life away from Arsenal.

The England Under 21 international, who has joined Blackburn on a season-long loan from the Gunners, is beginning to find his feet at Ewood thanks to the help of Rovers boss Mark Hughes.

But, while he's relishing the chance to finally get an extended run of games in the Premiership, Bentley has confessed he's now reached the point where he needs to start putting down more permanent roots if he's to fulfil the promise he showed at Highbury as a teenager.

The 21-year-old, who also spent last season on loan at Norwich, said: "It's always a big thing when you move away from somewhere you know well and somewhere you feel comfortable.

"If you're not comfortable within yourself then you won't be able to express yourself on a football field.

"But, hopefully, I can settle down here as quickly as possible.

"The team and the management have made it quite easy for me to do that and it's a good set-up here so hopefully I can start enjoying my football again.

"When you're at a club you want to feel wanted and feel happy playing in the team.

"You want to be happy playing where you are and happy where you live and everything has to be right.

"Hopefully, then my confidence will grow and I'll be able to reach my peak."

Bentley concedes he has struggled to perform to the level he knows he's capable of in the past, mainly because uncertainty has always surrounded his long-term future.

When he first broke through the ranks at Arsenal, he was widely regarded as a first team star in the making and some even tipped him to become Dennis Bergkamp's eventual successor.

However, Arsene Wenger then farmed the midfielder-cum-striker out to Norwich last season and he found it difficult to settle in Norfolk initially.

And he's now having to get used to a different working environment again after making a similar switch to Rovers at the beginning of this campaign.

"It's always frustrating (when you haven't got something permanent in place) because you can't settle down and you never know where you are or what's going on because you're not actually owned by the football club," said Bentley.

"It's very hard to concentrate on one thing when that's the case but I've just got to get on with it because that's the position I'm in.

"I would have preferred a permanent move but that didn't happen so we'll have to see what happens at Christmas or maybe the end of the season."

Asked if a permanent switch to Blackburn would appeal, Bentley replied: "Definitely. I certainly wouldn't rule that out.

"I want to try and settle down somewhere - somewhere I want to be and somewhere where I feel happy.

"I've been here a month now and it's going to take another couple of months to settle in, to be honest, before I'm at my peak.

"I don't really think I've shown people what I can do in the past year.

"There's always something stopping me inside and I don't know what it is.

"But if I settle down here and get focused on what I need to do then hopefully that will come out."