By Paul Brown

Andreas Weimann says having a fit and firing Darren Bent will give Villa a huge boost ahead of the new 2012-13 campaign.

Bent is fully over his ankle ligament problem and looks set to join the rest of the squad for pre-season training next week.

Weimann thinks this is tremendous news for everyone of claret and blue persuasion.

Weimann, who calls Bent "our No.1 striker", believes the ace forward is a special striker because of his remarkable instincts in front of goal.

He said: "Darren is our No.1 striker. It's really important to the club that he stays fit all season and hopefully gets us loads of goals.

"Just look at how many goals he scores! Having a fresh Darren Bent will be brilliant going into the start of the season.

"I think the runs that he makes are among the best things he does. Whenever he's in the box and he gets a chance he'll finish it really.

"That's the thing about him and that's what makes him so special, that sometimes he'll only need one chance and he'll score it.

"Maybe he's not always involved in the game but he's always making runs and if there's a cross he'll be there! He'll be at the end of it and that's why he's so good.

"I think you can learn which runs to make, but if you're in the box you've got to know where the cross is going to, whether to go long or short so it's instinctive I think.

"Obviously when he plays I always watch him and see the runs he makes and, after training, we always do finishing together.

"I look at the way he finishes and try to copy that. I think we both like to score goals and I don't see a problem where we couldn't play together."

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