Everton boss David Moyes says getting experience in the Europa League is critical for his players if they're to eventually reach the Champions League.

"European football has been important for me," Moyes told evertonTV. "I've always thought it's part of my development, part of the development of the Club and part of the team's development.

"For me it's about getting Everton Football Club back to where they were. Everton were up there and winning cups in Europe.

"I think what we have to do before we talk about the Champions League is be regulars in the Europa League. If you're getting regularly into the Europa League, sometime you'll get in the Champions League. That's what we're waiting on.

"If we're not getting into the Europa League then it's a long, long way to the Champions League. When we do get it we need to have had the experience so we can get in [to the group stages].

"A few years ago we got Villarreal and didn't make it through that. For us, we need to try and get ourselves in the group stages of that and obviously it changes the financial world as well if we can do that."