Aston Villa defender Ron Vlaar has insisted that the club's players will benefit from meeting their new teammates at the start of pre-season training.

Villa have already made five signings ahead of their next Premier League campaign, and Vlaar has admitted that it will give everyone more time to become acquainted with each other.

The 28-year-old told the Express & Star: "You have to get used to each other, that's one thing for us. I came at the end of pre-season and I only had one or two weeks before the season started.

"Christian Benteke came at the end and he's been great for us. We did well. We missed the little things in the first half of the season because it was a new team, a long season and there were lot of games to go.

"If we do that better next season, we won't have as many problems. A lot of games we'd play very well, we'd be 2-0 up but it turned the wrong way. We all learned a lot this year."

Vlaar made 28 appearances during his first season in England.