Former defender Olof Mellberg believes the experience of European football will make Villa’s young stars even better next season.
Next month’s two-legged Intertoto Cup tie is all that stands between Villa and a UEFA Cup place.
Juventus new boy Mellberg, who left Villa Park at the end of last season, expects the likes of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor to benefit.
Mellberg, currently on Euro 2008 duty with Sweden, said: “Being involved in some way in those situations is a good learning curve, when you become involved in the UEFA Cup or the Champions League.
“It is a different sort of thing to normal domestic football, a lot of pressure, and there is a lot of attention which you learn from.”
He added: “People ask me ‘is this the best Villa squad I’ve been involved with?’ But it is difficult to compare because this is a different situation.
“We have a lot of young talented players and back then we had a lot of older experienced players - Peter Schmeichel, Paul Merson, Ian Taylor, Dion Dublin, Steve Staunton and so on.
“They were great players but probably at the end of their careers. Now we have a lot of young players at the start of their careers who were key players last season.
“But it definitely looks good for the future now. I think it is a time now when Villa are trying to strengthen and establish themselves up there.”
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