Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has told Darren Bent that no player is more important than the football club.

Bent, 28, has not started a Premier League game for over five weeks and is reported to be unsettled at Villa Park. However, Lambert insists that he has no problem with the player.

"I'm the man that picks the team," said Lambert. "Listen, it's my choice and I've 26, 27 lads that I have to look after.

"Everybody's in it together and I need everybody in it together. I know the disappointment when you don't play, I know I was dropped about five million times, but that's the nature of the game.

"If you could pick everybody you would. Darren's still part of it but I've got 25, 26 guys to take care and think of. Darren's fine. There's nothing at all. The most important thing is Aston Villa Football Club."

Bent, whose current contract expires in June 2015, joined Villa from Sunderland in January 2011 for a transfer fee of £18m.