20-year-old Alfie Jones has today put pen to paper on a two-year contract extension, and has explained how excited he is to commit his future to Saints.
Under-23s captain, Jones has been broadening his experience on tour with the first-team over the summer, while also training under the guidance of manager Mark Hughes and his coaching staff.
Having nursed a hamstring injury at the backend of last season, the defender is now fully fit, and ready to progress, having signed a deal that will keep him at St Mary's until 2021.
"I want to push on from Under-23s level, and compete for a first team place," Jones commented. "Of course I want to be playing first team standard football.
"The summer has been a great experience for me, being around the first team here. It is always helpful learning off the older more experienced players and obviously the manager has been about and had a fantastic career.
"Being in and around it has helped me learn.
"I've had a good start to pre-season, coming back from injury, and we ended on a bit of a high last year so we want to push on this season.
"The morale is good and everyone's together as a team, so we go from there.
"The aim is definitely to push into the first team plans over the next couple of seasons and maybe even get a full appearance."