OUT-ON-LOAN midfielder Will Smallbone is targeting a return to Saints next season as to play for the club has been “a dream” since he was eight years old.

The 23 year old academy graduate has been integral for Championship Stoke City in what is his first full campaign as a senior player.

After battling back from an ACL and recurring calf injuries over the last two years at Saints, he has made 42 appearances in the league this season – most of them starts.

Smallbone has been operating as an eight or 10 for Alex Neil’s Potters, registering three goals and five assists as well as growing on and off the pitch.

READ MORE: Selles tells Daily Echo Smallbone should get a Saints chance

The Basingstoke-born youngster - now a Republic of Ireland international - is set to return to Saints for pre-season with his current deal expiring at the end of next campaign.

Daily Echo: Will Smallbone (Pic: Stuart Martin)

“I feel more than ready,” Smallbone said, in a new interview with The Athletic.

“Hopefully, they don’t go down but if the worst did happen, me and Nathan (Tella, who has helped Burnley win the second tier title this season on loan) having good, different, Championship experiences could potentially be a big help.”

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wanted to go back to Southampton. It’s been my dream ever since the age of eight,” he added.

“When I joined, to come through the academy and play for the first team. I achieved that, but not to the extent of what I wanted.

“This year has been a reset and helped me to find myself as a player and give myself the best opportunity going back to Southampton, whoever or whatever is there. But we’ll see in pre-season what the story is.”

Smallbone impressed for Saints ahead of his current season during their summer tour in Austria – he was probably the best player in the warm-up games.

He has moved to explain the weeks that followed, in which former manager Ralph Hasenhuttl somewhat reluctantly sanctioned his experience loan to the second division.

“That formation (4-2-2-2) probably didn’t suit me as a player, because when I was out on the right — it’s not my game,” Smallbone said.

“I would then play up front, which is probably not my game either! As a six in a midfield, it’s quite a big position, especially in the Premier League.

“So I could understand everyone’s tentativeness to put me in as a double six. I always believed I could do it but I was happy to come on loan because it meant I’d get minutes in a position that I saw myself playing.”

Smallbone continued: “Ralph ummed and ahhed and said he wasn’t sure whether to send me on loan.

“He said I could play a lot but obviously couldn’t promise it. I wanted to play for Southampton but I wanted to selfishly have the best opportunity to play as much as possible and that’s why my head was set on going on loan as the next step in my career.

“Ralph was great to send me out and said it was a shame that we didn’t change to a midfield three earlier because I would have had a better chance of getting in the team.”