GIANFRANCO ZOLA has set his sights on Champions League football with West Ham ‘in the next few years’ after penning a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2013.

The Italian manager signed the four-year contract after watching his team go down 1-0 at home to Chelsea on Saturday.

However, according to him, it won’t be long before the team is on an even keel with the likes of the Blues, and he is confident that, in time, the club will be competing on a big European stage on a regular basis.

“The ambition is that we want to be competing with the top four or five in a few years,” he stated. “This year is just the beginning, but we have a lot of enthusiasm and we trust what we’re doing. It’s a good team, both on and off the pitch, they work very well together.”

Zola accepts that the squad will need strengthening if those goals are to become reality, and he has been assured that he will be given adequate funds to bring players in this summer.

“We will try to improve the team. Don’t be surprised if there are a few signings, so we can take the level of the team even higher.”

It has been a highly impressive first season in management for the former Chelsea ace, and Zola insists he is growing with every game in the hot seat.

“The experience I’m gaining makes me a better manager. I’m not presumptuous enough to say that I know everything. There are so many things I need to learn and I’m very much willing to do so.

“There is something very important for me as a manager to take from all of the games. I’m pleased to make mistakes, because you get better only through those mistakes.”

The defeat, combined with Fulham’s victory at the weekend, has seen the Hammers slip to eighth, a place below the final Europa League place.

However, despite the two point deficit and a tricky run-in, which includes Liverpool at home and Everton away, Zola is optimistic.

“I don’t mind dropping out of the top seven now, as long as I can be up there after the last game,” he said. “We know it’s going to be up and down until the end, but, for sure, we’re not going to give up.”

* WEST Ham have been boosted by the news that midfielder Jack Collison will return to the side in time for a late assault on a Europa League place.

The 20-year-old winger has begun full training this week after dislocating his kneecap seven weeks ago.