An England call-up is just around the corner for Southampton's Nathan Redmond, according to team-mate Oriol Romeu.
The 23-year-old has had an inconsistent first season on the South Coast, but a flurry of strong performances in recent games have led many, including Romeu, to believe that he deserves a chance at the very highest level of football.
Settling in
When Redmond signed for Southampton last summer, the unenviable task filling the outgoing Sadio Mané's boots lay ahead of him. For what seemed like years, he had been tipped as a player with limitless potential.
Now, with plenty of Premier League experience under his belt thanks to his spell with previous club Norwich City, the time had come for Redmond to truly prove himself at the pinnacle of English domestic football.
However initially, things didn't go totally to plan. Redmond was by no means playing badly week-in, week-out, but he seemed incapable of stringing a few good performances together.
In between the odd well-taken goal and sparks of genius with the ball at his feet, the winger-turned-striker was regularly wasting great opportunities to find the net, and regularly went anonymous for large chunks of games.
Nevertheless, with his inaugural season at St Mary's reaching the final stretch, Redmond looks to finding his feet, and living up to that weighty expectation at last.
He was crucial for the Saints in their EFL Cup semi-final victory over Liverpool across the two legs, before putting in an outstanding display in defeat in the subsequent final against Manchester United.
Yet it was not until last Saturday, in Southampton's 4-3 win at Watford, where Redmond showed what he is really capable of.
He was the best player on the pitch, a nuisance all afternoon, and capped things off with two goals, the first of which as good a finish as one could wish to see.
If Redmond can continue his impressive form, then he will take an immense step towards becoming the player everyone hoped he would.
Not going unnoticed
Naturally, Redmond's recent performances have stimulated much discussion about whether he should receive an England call-up, but it is not just the media who are getting involved in the speculation.
Southampton team-mate Oriol Romeu, himself having an excellent season, believes that a first international cap is within reach.
The Spanish midfielder stated that it is "a matter of time before he plays for England", due to his "amazing form". Redmond has represented his country countless times at youth level, but is yet to make his senior debut.
With the Three Lions facing a friendly against Germany in Dortmund, before a routine qualifier at home to Lithuania in the penultimate week of the month, it is likely that manager Gareth Southgate will experiment with his side.
If Romeu's opinion is anything to go by, then Redmond will surely be part of a possibly unfamiliar England squad, announced on 16th March.
Good, but not great
Despite being full of praise for Redmond, Romeu is not completely satisfied with Southampton's recent form. At Vicarage Road last Saturday, the Saints were electric in attack, but leaky in defence.
As a player whose main job is to keep a clean sheet, Romeu accepted that he and his team-mates "have to be better defensively" and "we're not as solid as we'd like to be at the back", even though he and his team are "playing better football".
Although there is plenty of room for improvement, if Southampton can resolve their issues at the back, and Redmond and co. keep thriving going forward, then they are perfectly poised to finish the season fantastically.