Martin O’Neill today outlined his plans to make huge improvements to adapt his Villa squad for the demands of Europe for what could be a staggering 19 extra games next season.
Finishing sixth in the Premier League means Villa will play either Lisburn Distillery of Northern Ireland, TPS Turku, of Finland, or either one of Danish sides FC Copenhagen, FC Midtjylland or OB Odense in a two-legged third round InterToto clash on July 19 and 26.
The draw takes place on June 27 and the winners gain a place in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
Victory at that stage will qualify Villa for a potential journey that could see them play a total of 19 more matches – half a Premier League season – if they were to reach the UEFA Cup final at Fenerbahce’s home of Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Turkey.
Villa boss O’Neill is desperate to keep captain Gareth Barry, but even without that distraction, he loses Olof Mellberg and almost certainly out of contract players Thomas Sorensen and Patrik Berger.
“This is the best time to talk to the chairman – we’ve got a lot to address over the summer,” said O’Neill. “We want to push on.
“If you look at our squad, eight players have played in excess of 32 Premier League games. We can’t expect the same eight players to all play so many games again.
“We’ve played virtually the same side. I think getting into Europe is particularly excellent – a phenomenal achievement, so I want to think about that for a day or two and then we’ll see.
“But when you look at the squad we had at West Ham, we had Curtis Davies out and we will lose one or two with Olof Mellberg going.”
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