Aston Villa ace Darren Bent insists the game needs strikers - despite the Euros triumph of Spain.

Despite missing the Three Lions' Euro 2012 campaign through injury, Bent intends to bounce back off the ropes this season.

He said: "Spain played a crazy gameplan but it worked for them.

"Fortunately they're probably the only nation in the world right now who could get away with it. I'm not sure how much damage Del Bosque's system has done to strikers.

"But am I worried it will start a trend and lead to us becoming an endangered species - nah, of course not!

"We're talking Spain here, one of the greatest teams ever.

"Everyone else needs strikers. Even Del Bosque used one when it suited him "But remind me who won the Golden Boot at the Euros this summer. It was not Xavi, Iniesta or Cesc Fabregas. It was Fernando Torres and the last time I looked he was a striker!

"Del Bosque didn't even play him half the time. Yet he still won the Golden Boot and finished top scorer. Strikers are only in danger of becoming extinct in Spain where they have taken the game to another level."