SAINTS forward Dom Ballard has been nominated for August's Premier League 2 Player of the Month award.

The 18 year old scored back-to-back hattricks in Saints' first two games of the season, prior to making a loan switch to Reading.

Ballard will spend this campaign playing under former Southampton manager Ruben Selles at the League One side.

His PL2 form also earned him a call-up to Simon Rusk's England's under-19 side for their friendly fixtures against Germany and Switzerland.

Ballard captained the Young Lions side and scored his first international goal at under-19 level in England's 4-2 win over Switzerland on Saturday.

Upon joining the Royals on loan, Ballard explained why he opted to make the step into senior football, rather than continue to play for Saints under-21s.

He told Reading's official club media: "Hopefully I come with goals - that's what (Selles) wants from me.

"I want to take Reading back up. I could be playing development football but I want to push myself. To play against men is much more challenging."

Ballard has been nominated for the award alongside Yago Alonso, Jamie Donley, Martial Godo, Mark O'Mahony, Sam Paul, Ronnie Stutter, Jayden Wareham.

The winner will be decided by the Premier League Football Development Panel and will be announced later this week.