Villa is convinced by the teen's ability and potential, despite the claims of former teammate Gerard Pique claiming he wouldn't have broken into the team of Pep Guardiola's era.
Villa told Marca: "I think just watching Barça's game, not only what he transmits when he has the ball but what his teammates transmit.
"The other day, he never ceases to surprise us, but in the last few minutes against Inter I had the feeling that practically all of his teammates were looking for him, like in the last few minutes when the game needed to be decided because they were behind on the scoreboard or tied on the scoreboard, it seemed that Barça's own players were looking for him much more than usual knowing that he was the one who could decide the game.
"That at 17 years old is truly outrageous in a club like Barça. All due respect to other clubs, the difficulty of playing for Barça. That aura, or call it what you want, is very difficult to see and he transmits it.
"What happens? That in the end he gets the ball and finishes off the plays. I think it's fantastic, I think we should all look after him, help him, wait for him when he has bad moments because he will have them, because he is still a kid. He has a talent ahead of him and a brutal future."
Pique wrong on Yamal
On Yamal playing in his former Barca team, Villa insisted: "I think so, because of talent... I always say the same thing, comparing eras isn't 100% logical. You can think 'yes, he would play' or 'he wouldn't play.'
"The other day I heard Piqué say that maybe he hadn't been given his debut with our generation.
"Analysing things like that is complicated. All I know is that he's a player with tremendous talent, and you get the feeling, but you can't prove it, that he could play in any era of this team and in any team."