Danger UXB: Lambert turns to the Bomb Squad

Paul Lambert has performed a staggering U-turn by bringing ostracised high earners Darren Bent and Alan Hutton back into the first team squad Aston Villa.

Lambert will bring the two exiled internationals back into the Villa fold after talks with chairman Randy Lerner, in a move which shows graphically that the want-away chairman and his unpopular manager haven't got a Scooby Doo what they are doing.

Bent, Villa’s £24 million record signing, and regular Scotland right back Hutton have both been told to report for training with the first-team when the squad returns for pre-season in July.

Lambert said: "Everybody’s even now, everybody’s level. It’s public what’s happened and now everyone is on the same level playing field.

"Everybody knows the club is up for sale and it’s going to need everybody to pull in the same direction. The next few weeks and months are going to be testing, that’s for sure.

"The only uncertainty we’ve got is how long before the club is sold."

Alan Hutton

£65,000 a week Bent, has been shabbily treated since Lambert’s appointment in June 2012. Having been made captain, he was humiliatingly stripped of the armband and left kicking his heels on the bench as Christian Benteke made a name for himself.

Last summer he was dumped into ‘Bomb Squad’who were made to change in a separate dressing room to the first team. His coveted Number 9 shirt was handed to Nicklas Helenius and he was loaned out to Fulham for the season, managing scored only six goals under three different managers.

Enda

Hutton, 29, hasn't made a single appearance since Lambert’s arrival, but impressed in a loan spell at Bolton before picking up a knee injury. Lambert has admitted the former Tottenham Hotspur right-back was jettisoned from the squad due to his high wages of around £40,000 a week but it was never explained to the fans how not using these highly expensive assets while still paying them saved money.

Charlie N’Zogbia missed all of last season after rupturing his Achilles in June and had been training with the Academy but will now be considered.

Edna Stevens has spent the season bench warming at Doncaster Rovers and his future is less clear .

The news comes hot on the heels of the announcement that Super Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso have been released.