Darren Bent loses Villa No 9 shirt to Nicklas Helenius

The frozen-out striker has lost his No 9 shirt to the Danish new-boy and has been handed No 39.

Bent is expected to leave Villa Park this summer and has been linked with Fulham and Newcastle with the Magpies believed to be his favoured destination.

The striker tweeted: "Gutted to lose my No 9 shirt. Unfortunately, one of those things I have to deal with. KTF."

Bent joins several players on high numbers who are not part of boss Paul Lambert's plans.

Stephen Ireland is 40, Alan Hutton – who is close to completing a loan move to Real Mallorca – is 41 and Barry Bannan is 42 with Shay Given and Charles N'Zogbia 35 and 36.

Leandro Bacuna has taken over Ireland's No 7 shirt, while Andi Weimann is No 10.

The club have also retired the No 19 shirt for the season in tribute to Stiliyan Petrov, after he was forced to quit this year after being diagnosed with acute leukaemia in March 2012.

And chief executive Paul Faulkner has insisted Villa still have work to do ahead of their Premier League opener.

The claret and blues have undergone an overhaul this summer with six new players arriving and changes to the coaching staff.

Helenius, Bacuna and Antonio Luna have all joined as Lambert continues to mould his own team.

And Faulkner believes the club are not the finished article and will improve before their curtain-raiser at Arsenal on August 17.

He said: "It's still only July and I think we are very happy with the players we have brought in and the players whose contracts we have extended.

"It allows us to go into the season feeling that we have got our squad nicely balanced and shaped.

"We have done an awful lot in pre-season so far and there's a lot more work to do – it never stops. But we're working well and we're looking forward to the challenge."

Lambert takes his side to Crewe tomorrow night, ahead of a trip to Walsall next Wednesday, to celebrate the Saddlers' 125th anniversary, and then a game at Shamrock Rovers.