FABRICE FERNANDES hopes France coach Jacques Santini will be the next international boss to visit St Mary's.

Sven-Goran Eriksson watched James Beattie and Wayne Bridge perform well in Saturday's 1-1 draw against Newcastle and Fernandes admits his ambition is to play for European champions France.

The 23-year-old has been a revelation on the right side of midfield, even out-shining illustrious compatriots Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord, Robert Pires and Laurent Robert in recent home fixtures.

But the former French under-21 international, pictured above celebrating a goal with Beattie, knows it will be a tough fight to get in a team rated second only to Brazil in the FIFA world rankings.

He said: "The France situation is very complex and there are many, many good players.

"I want to play for my country and I hope one day that will happen and the gaffer of the national team will come and watch me.

"Some of the players in Euro 2004 are now 32 or 33 and there is a new generation starting to come through, so hopefully I can have the opportunity to be part of this.

"I feel very confident with my football at the moment, I have progressed and things are going very well."

Saints boss Gordon Strachan says the little Frenchman has a chance of becoming a great player and Fernandes added: "I want to become a great player and I want to score more goals.

"I'm just 23 years old and I have the future and the possibility to play much better and gain much more experience."

It is now almost exactly a year since he joined Saints from Rennes in a £1.2m deal following various loan spells at Fulham, Rangers and Marseille.

And so far this season Fernandes has put in almost 100 crosses - more than any other Premiership player.

The Frenchman's form has meant limited midfield chances for the likes of Andrei Kanchleskis, Jo Tessem and Paul Telfer and he was again instrumental in Saturday's Newcastle thriller.

"I enjoyed the match and I think I did okay," he said.

"I did some good work to give the goal for Mazza and put in some good crosses."

Hours of hard graft on the training pitch have tellingly helped Fernandes - a natural left-footer - develop into a genuinely two-footed player.

He said: "I try crosses with my right foot in training every day and it gets easier in each match.

"It's good because when I have the opportunity I can go on either foot. Before sometimes players were trying to stop me cutting inside, but I can use my right foot as well and I'm getting lots of opportunities to cross the ball.

"I'm very happy playing on the right, but I also like playing on the left or in the middle - I feel like I could play anywhere."