By Paul Brown

Brett Holman can't wait to get his Villa playing career underway, insisting ahead of this afternoon's Burton test: "The prospect of putting on the shirt really excites me!"

Holman is hoping to play a part at the Pirelli Stadium today as the Paul Lambert era gets underway.

He admits he's been thinking about starring for Villa since signing his pre-contract agreement back in March.

So the matches can't come soon enough for him.

He said: "It will be the first time I put on a Villa shirt in a match which is obviously something I've been thinking about.

"It excites me and has done since I signed.

"To get on the pitch will be great. It's not at Villa Park but it will still be great to play in front of the Villa fans and show what I can do."

Villa then fly to the USA on Monday as the season preparations hot up with games against Philadelphia Union, Chicago Fire and Portland Timbers.

Holman says it's going to be a great chance for the lads to spark up their friendships as the season approaches.

He continued: "It will be a good bonding opportunity and will allow me to get to know the rest of the guys a bit better as well.

"You have breakfast together, you have lunch together and it helps you get to know people a bit more."

Holman admits he's so far enjoyed a varied pre-season programme in his ten-year career to date.

He added: "In Holland, it depended on the coach who was in charge to be honest. We had four different coaches and they did it differently.

"Louis van Gaal wanted to stay at the training ground because he felt that the facilities on offer were already first class so didn't want to move.

"But others wanted to get away to Spain, Portugal or whatever. It varied on what they wanted to do."

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