David Moyes believes the quality of opposition in this season's Uefa Cup has made it the ideal training ground for Everton's Champions League ambitions.
The Blues are challenging on two fronts at the moment, with this week's Uefa Cup Round of 16 first leg tie with Italian giants Fiorentina providing a break from the challenge of securing a top four finish in the Premier League and, with it, a place in next season's Champions League.
Everton have won each of their previous seven outings in Europe ahead of Thursday's encounter with Fiorentina and the Goodison chief believes the level of quality in this season's competition is helping his side develop.
Everton have already recorded victories over the champions of Norway in SK Brann and the champions of Russia in Zenit St Petersburg.
Both those sides have already secured their place in next season's Champions League, whilst Thursday's opponents are well placed to do likewise via their position in Serie A.
Those factors have convinced Moyes that, should Everton progress to the Champions League via their league position this term, they will be well placed to make an impression.
He told evertonTV exclusively ahead of Thursday's match in Florence: "With the teams who have dropped out of the Champions League coupled with the teams that have won the groups then you are beginning to see a lot of good sides in the competition now. In fact, I think you are now seeing a lot of teams in the competition who will be competing in the Champions League in the very near future.
"Seville won the Uefa Cup last year - they are now a Champions League side. The Uefa Cup can be a breeding ground for the Champions League and also a good learning curve in order to do well in the Champions League."
That is Everton's target - to emulate Sevilla's success in both competitions in recent seasons.
But Moyes knows to progress through to the last eight of this season's Uefa Cup his side must be on top of their game for a tough test from Fiorentina. Prior to this round Moyes had regarded the qualifying encounter with Metalist Kharkiv as Everton's toughest challenge in this season's competition.
But now he explains: "I think this will be a tougher test than Metalist because Italian teams have a great history of succeeding both at international and club level. They have a mentality to win games and are also hard to beat. Fiorentina play quite forcefully so hopefully we will see two good games.
"Our away form will be tested to the full. We have got into good habits and making the right decisions at the right time. But the games can change very quickly on the slighest thing. We would like to come here and score a goal but it is also equally important, if not more important, to make sure we don't concede one.
"We have a team full of international players so that has helped us and the squad has players who have played at different levels in European competition and that has helped us grow and become more mature in the competition."
Everton will be up against a familiar face in the shape of Danish international Per Kroldrup when they step out in Florence on Thursday evening. Moyes still rates the defender, despite his failure to make an impression at Goodison during his shortlived stay on Merseyside two years ago.
He added: "We were genuinely pleased to see Per in the summer (when he visited out training camp). It shows he is a good defender because he is playing in one of the top clubs in the Italian league and doing well for them. It just wasn't the right time for him or for Everton at that time. But you can't doubt his quality as a player, he has certainly got that."
