Marcus Bent believes new Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira "missed the boat" by failing to beat Watford to the signature of free agent Josh King.

Vieira, who was appointed as Roy Hodgson's successor last month, got his Palace reign off to a disappointing start after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Marc Guehi, who completed an £18million switch from the Champions League holders in the summer, made his full debut at Stamford Bridge and Joachim Andersen appeared in an Eagles shirt for the first time following his big-money move from Lyon.

But Palace struggled to carry a threat in front of goal and Bent believes King should have been among those to come through the Selhurst Park door.

Former Bournemouth striker King was released by Everton, following a six-month spell, earlier this summer. But, with the 29-year-old boasting 48 goals in 172 Premier League appearances, newly-promoted Watford quickly added King to their ranks.

Ex-Everton and Palace frontman Bent reckons Vieira was wrong not to push for the Norway international.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Bent said: "Teams and managers make mistakes. It happens and this is one of those. Josh King has done really well and they definitely missed the boat."