WHAT next for the next generation?

Well, Villa’s budding stars will further their development in the NextGen Series quarter-final against Marseille at Villa Park tomorrow evening.

And the Under-19s competition itself, billed as a Junior Champions League, is hoping to kick on to a bright future after the success of its inaugural season so far.

Villa have enjoyed the tournament to date, growing into their group at such a rapid rate they topped their table with four wins and two defeats.

It has earned them home advantage in tomorrow’s last-eight tie and the claret and blues are hoping to attract a crowd of 3,000 against their French visitors.

Despite kicking off with a 2-0 defeat at Ajax and also suffering a 3-2 reverse at Rosenborg, Villa won 2-1 at Fenerbahce and boast a 100 per cent record at home.

Villa Park witnessed 11 goals in three matches with the youngsters thumping Fenerbahce 4-0, Rosenborg 4-1 and avenging the Ajax setback with a 3-0 victory over the Dutch giants.

Gary Gardner, in particular, has come of age on the European stage, captaining the teenage team to the knockout stages and showing his class against his continental contemporaries.

A hat-trick against Ajax was Gardner’s personal highlight and he has used NextGen as a springboard into the senior squad, making an impressive full first-team debut in last weekend’s win at Wolves.

“Aston Villa has always been spoken about for providing top young talent and we’ve proved that over the past,” said Gardner.

“We’ve won the reserves league several times, we’ve won the youth league and done well in the FA Youth Cup.

“When I got told about this tournament, I thought ‘I want to play in this’ so to get to the quarter-finals is a great achievement.

“Hopefully, we can go all the way and win the competition.”

In the other quarter-finals, a veritable who’s who of Europe’s biggest clubs, Barcelona host Ajax, Sporting Lisbon take on Inter Milan and, in an all English tie, Tottenham meet Liverpool.