JAMES BEATTIE has asked new England boss Sven Goran Eriksson not to be blinded by the glare cast by the Premiership's top clubs and to cast his eyes towards the lesser lights.

Beattie's award of the Carling Player of the Month for December might not be enough to grab the attention of the new England supremo and the Saints striker says the new man should not be hidebound by the clubs players play for.

"I'd like to think he will pick players on merit and not on the basis of who they play for, which I think has been the case in the past," said Beattie, who would love to upgrade his England Under-21 caps to full international honours.

"I've heard that he's very thorough and I hope he will be keeping an eye on all the English players in the Premiership.

"Every England manager has to know what's available to him and that means going to all the grounds sooner or later to see all the players he can," says Beattie.

Eriksson's earlier-than-expected arrival this week following his resignation from Lazio means he will be in charge for next month's friendly against Spain, prior to the World Cup qualifiers against Finland and Albania in March.

His right-hand man Tord Grip has already been scanning for players and Beattie might be encouraged by the fact that the first two matches Eriksson will take in are today's Upton Park clash between West Ham and Sunderland, followed by a trip to East Anglia to take in Ipswich against Leicester.

Beattie's haul of ten goals in 12 games has made him the name on everyone's lips but he said: "This has been the best spell of my professional career and if I can keep doing the business for Southampton, who knows what could happen with the England set-up.

"But I'm not getting carried away at this stage, although it's encouraging to hear he has a reputation for casting the net as wide as possible. I think that any player with England ambitions is just going to have to wait and see what happens."

The feeling among strikers like Beattie is that past England managers have tended not to look too far outside the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and the other big clubs for their players.

But he feels Saints performances against some of the Premiership big boys warrants a closer look.

"I think people have been forced to sit up and take notice after some of the results we've produced this season. We've beaten Chelsea, Leeds, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Newcastle already and the confidence is growing with each game."

Saints manager Glenn Hoddle finally landed Romanian international Dan Petrescu seven months after his his first overtures and said: "He's got top qualities, great experience and I am delighted to have him here."

Petrescu snubbed Saints in the summer to join Bradford but after clinching his signing yesterday, Hoddle added: "You can't hold it against himthat he decided to join Bradford. If we all knew how to make the right decisions life would be pretty boring.

"He becomes our most experienced player, an international footballer striving to gain his 100th cap and I think that speaks volumes for him.