The 18-year-old has signed a new contract at the St. Mary’s Stadium club until 2026.
Now he wants to push and become a regular for coach Russell Martin, as they jump back into the Premier League.
"It's good to be with the first team full-time because last year when we played the Benfica game, I went back with the under-21s," he told the Daily Echo.
"You don't know if you're an under-21 or first-team player, and when you know that you're with one team, it's easy to settle in and play how you play.
"It's good to see that Russ has even more trust in us than last season to say we're senior players. He's treating us like senior players now and being a bit harder.
"The expectations have gone up too. He's hounding me and Sam (Amo-Ameyaw) together and it's only to make us better players - and it's helping.
"Because Sam and I have played together for so long now, I know exactly what he's going to do. It's just easy to play when he dribbles and scores like that.
"Sam and I are really enjoying it. When Sam makes that run, it opens up the middle for me. When I just play it across, someone's got to be there to attack it.