Nathan Redmond on family, form and THAT talk with Pep Guardiola

Nathan Redmond pops his head around the door. Here he is, the life and soul. He says hello to Kerrie, receptionist at Southampton's training complex.

Not in a cursory kind of way, he stops and has a conversation. Then he walks on and the laughter seems to follow - but it hasn't always been like that.

Pep Guardiola saw it. Almost a year ago Raheem Sterling snatched victory for Manchester City against Southampton with a 96th-minute winner. Instead of celebrating with his jubilant squad, the animated Catalan made a beeline for an opponent.

Redmond, a tricky, goal-scoring winger, had left an impression on Guardiola during his first year in England. A year on, he had watched a different player.

'Last season was one of the worst seasons of my life,' Redmond recalls, 'I was looking back at it and thinking, this is not me, this is not the sort of player that has gained me the reputation that even Pep Guardiola can say to me: "You are one of the best English players I've seen: why are you not taking players on like you did before?"'

Southampton and Redmond continued to stagnate under Mauricio Pellegrino. They didn't win for 12 games after defeat at the Etihad. Sometimes Redmond didn't make the match day squad and he trained with the Under 23s for two months. When Mark Hughes replaced Pellegrino in March, the scars had not healed.

'I remember one game, it was Chelsea at home. I was still in a bit of a rough position and I was sitting up in my box.

'I was just sitting there, watching the game with a frustrated face, thinking: "What am I doing? I should be out there, helping the boys get wins". Instead I'm sitting here in what feels like a world of trouble.

'I'd look at clips and think, "Who's that?" That's not what made me me. That's not what I did at Birmingham and at Norwich. 'I was no use to anybody on the pitch. I'd get the ball and as soon as I did, I'd pass it. That's not me.'

In conversation, Redmond is earnest, intelligent and grounded. He is wise beyond his 24 years and when he fixes eye contact he doesn't let go. He frequently mentions his straight-talking mother Michelle.

His sister, Tilly, was stillborn in 2012 and the family's heartache has put the importance of football in perspective for Redmond.

'My mum was the strongest woman that I've ever known. She could take on anyone in my eyes. To see something like losing a child break a woman who I thought was unbreakable... then to me, makes me realise that football is just a game. And I'm blessed to be able to do it.

'But there's much bigger things that are more important. Like being alive. Waking up. Being thankful. Stuff like that, which people take for granted every single day.

'My mum knows me better than anybody. But I think I was in a place where I was making up excuses as to why I'm not doing or changing or being the person that I am on the pitch. My mum just said, "You are the only one that's caused this. It's nobody else".'

She's also responsible for his lack of tattoos, a rarity for a footballer: 'My mum said if I ever got a tattoo she would kill me. But my mum has tattoos, so it makes no sense!'

Southampton stayed up, but Redmond needed to reset. He spent some of the summer in Los Angeles with the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Nathaniel Chalobah, Kieran Gibbs and Danny Simpson.

'I understood that I had the worst season I've ever had in my career and the only way I was going to fix that was by working on my body and mind, getting them right ready to come back to pre-season and be like, "This is it".

'I wasn't thinking about anything that was going on in the UK apart from the World Cup, which was nice to watch while being out there.'

Redmond has been capped at every England level from Under 16, progressing through the age groups with much of the squad in Russia. Sterling and Jesse Lingard are friends.

Gareth Southgate has played a significant part in his development as a player and a person during his time managing the Under 21s and for the senior team. It was Southgate who handed Redmond his first and only cap against Germany last year.

He hasn't spoken to him for a while ('He's had his hands full'), but is not surprised by his success.

'When Gareth took over, the 21s was the massive change. Because people were like: "Oh, the 21s, they actually have some really good players. How are they doing?" And then the next thing you know the 21s were getting a lot more fans at games. We were enjoying playing and going away with England.

'There was a lot of things which Gareth changed in the 21s which I think he has implemented into the seniors. It's paying off. He fully deserves the credit he's getting at the moment.'

You wonder how he felt watching so many of his peers playing in Russia: 'I was proud of some of the players that I've played with there. I've been in the senior squad before, I know it's not out of reach but it's not something I'm thinking about right now. The main focus is about trying to get wins for this football club.'

As team-mate Alex McCarthy has shown after earning his first England cap last week against the USA, playing for a smaller club is not a disadvantage to those with international ambitions.

'Alex has done unbelievably in the last six, seven, eight months since he came into the starting line-up.

'The pathway has always been there. It just means, whether you're 18 like Jadon Sancho, or if you're 27, 28 like Alex McCarthy, that you'll get your chance if you're performing well. It's refreshing for everybody.'

There is no disguising a frustrating season for Southampton. Points have been squandered against Leicester, Brighton and Watford. Yet despite scoring just eight goals, they are creating the fifth most chances in the division.

They travel to Fulham on Saturday for Claudio Ranieri's first game in charge. But Redmond wants to make it all about Southampton.

'The whole club could do with a good result. The boys could do with one because we've been working our backsides off to ensure we try to win games.'

With Hughes under-pressure after a disappointing start, Redmond credits the boss for his man-management skills.

'When the gaffer came here, he sat me down and said: "I understand you're not in a great place at the moment confidence-wise, we're going to try to slowly help you get it back".

'Under him now, whenever I get the ball I feel I'm in a much better place because he's there egging me on on the sidelines. 'He tells me not to be afraid to lose it in the final third. That's all you want in a manager, to have that confidence in you.'

And as that confidence returns, Redmond looks back to that conversation in Manchester.

'I'll never be able to thank him enough for the words that he said to me. Anybody can pat you on the back and tell you that you're good and you're doing well. But if you don't really believe in it then you're not really doing yourself justice.'