Ever since he joined the club in the summer of 2008 Morgan Schneiderlin was talked about in terms of Premier potential, this was the season he proved it.
The potential for Morgan to play in the Premier was never in question, but despite all the rumours of transfers to Arsenal etc, no one seemed to put an offer in and it was with Saints he remained.
In 2011/12 Saints central midfield was not a very stable place, indeed as Saints powered to the top of the league, it would be the sixth game before Morgan got his first start, Nigel Adkins couldnt quite decide who was his best central pairing between Morgan, Cork & Dean Hammond and therefore often, too often some would say, to fit them all in he would play all three but one of them would have to play wide in a four man midfield.
So when Steven Davis arrived there was a quastion mark over whom would play and it looked like another season of trying to fit three into two, however with Cork unavailable, Morgan was virtually guaranteed to start the early games and although the results didnt go well his performances were impressive, despite th fact Saints were struggling to cope with playing a new formation when they clearly didnt have the personel to do so.
When Jack Cork came back to fitness Morgan benefitted greatly and if his performances had been good before they were great now, Cork worked tirelessly and enabled Morgan to really come to maturity, its hard to believe that when the season started he was still only 22, but unlike some players who spend their times nowhere near a first team chance at Chelsea or Man City, Morgan has played games and that meant he had the experience to cope with the Premier when the chance arose.
Perhaps the biggest improvement to his game though was the goal scoring, in his previous 4 seasons and something approaching 130 or so league games he had scored on only 3 occasions, but in 12/13 he hit 5 goals, if he can get his confidene up he is capable of this and more in the coming season.
A worthy winner of the player of the year award, although for me there was little to choose between him and Jack Cork and without each other it might perhaps have been a different story.
Now Morgan has the chance to push on and look for a full French cap, 2013/14 could really be his season, he is still only 23 but has almost 200 appearances or aints to his name, he has the experience, he has learnt his trade. He now also knows what to expect in the Premier league, if Saints can do as the Chairman and manager want and push up to the next level, then with Morgan at the heart of it he cannot fail to attract the attention of the French International team.
9/10 for Morgan, for me there is little to choose between him and jack Cork, should he be 10/10, for me know, is any player truly 10/10, I dont think so whether it be Lionel Messi or Morgan Schneiderlin.