What can you say about Luke Shaw, a great season for the 18 year old culminating in a place in the England squad for the World Cup in Brazil.
Its almost hard to believe that Luke Shaw is still only 18, in what is after all less than two full seasons in the Saints side he has made the left back spot his own and looks set to do the same for England in the coming years.
However as good as the season has been for him I still feel that he has a way to go yet before he reaches his full potential, given that he is now probably second only to Leighton Baines as the best footballer in the Premier League and some would say better, this perhaps shows just what his potential is.
Defensively Luke is very strong and bar the odd lapse rarely gets beaten, but at the moment his attacking play is still not fully matured, for me although he gets into positions going forward to really damage the opposition, at the moment he just doesn't capitalise by putting in the killer balls that lead to goals.
Statistics show that he put in 141 crosses and had 17 shots during the Premier League season, yet all he had to show for the effort was 1 assist, for me that is a little short of the standard he should aspire too, Leighton Baines put in 142 crosses but had 4 assists plus scored 5 goals although 3 of these were penalties.
In contrast on the other side Nathan Clyne only put in 61 crosses but had 4 assists in a lot less games than Luke.
I am sure that this side of the game will come for Luke, when he gets the confidence to beat his man a little more and gets his range for crosses im sure he will then be perhaps the best left back in the World let alone the Premier League.
But this perhaps emphasises just why he should hve another year at Saints rather than head off to Old Trafford, here he can learn his trade under no pressure, whereas at Old Trafford the fans would soon be on his back if he was putting in so many crosses that didnt result in goals.
As I say the fact that he is as highly rated as he is despite this area of his game still in development shows what a great player he will surely become.
Hopefully he will still be a Saints player at the start of the season, perhaps thats a pipe dream but if he does go then it will be about getting in a big transfer fee and using it wisely, over the decades I have watched Saints I have seen many promising youngsters leave for big fee's, the trick is to replace them wisely, football is a squad game nowadays our squad is still not strong enough overall.