1. Secret training as a teenager
Twenty years in the Southampton system have turned James Ward-Prowse into one of the Premier League’s most consistent midfielders, but secret sessions training away from the club’s Academy as a young player played their part in his development.
Ward-Prowse revealed in an interview in 2014 that, unbeknown to the Saints, he would also train with non-league side Havant & Waterlooville in the Blue Square South to ‘toughen up’.
The midfielder admitted, as a teenager, he was ‘a bit afraid of a tackle’ and wanted to ‘be kicked and beaten and shouted at’ in order to further his development not only as a player, but as a person too.
It was a move that truly benefited Ward-Prowse’s career, with the then-youngster playing for Southampton U16s at 14-years-old, then the U18s at 16, before breaking into the Saints’ first-team.
2. His set-piece prowess
You probably already know about this one but, when it comes to set-pieces, Ward-Prowse is just on a different level.
In 410 senior appearances for Southampton, the 28-year-old has scored 55 goals. Of those 55, 33 from them have either come from a penalty-kick or a direct free-kick. That is 60 per cent of his finishes for the Saints!
With 17 direct free-kicks scored in the Premier League, the midfielder is just one away from equalising the record set by David Beckham in the English top flight, with the former England captain netting 18 during his time with Manchester United.
On top of the goals he has scored, Ward Prowse has also provided 54 assists for teammates on the South Coast. It is a record that caused Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola to describe him as the best free-kick taker in the world.
3. Serious stamina
While Ward-Prowse has a well-earned reputation for his ability with the ball, his physical fitness and stamina levels are also deserving of praise too.
At the end of the 2020/21 season, with a 90-minute showing against the Hammers at London Stadium, the newest Iron became the first player in Premier League history to play every single minute of two consecutive Premier League seasons.
From the start of the 2029/20 campaign, through to the end of the 2020/21 season, Ward-Prowse played every moment of top-flight football.
In fact, Ward-Prowse played the full 90 minutes in every Southampton Premier League game between the 2018/19 concluder at home to Huddersfield Town and the loss away to Chelsea on 2 October 2021, where he received a red card and was consequently suspended.
In terms of consecutive Premier League matches, Ward-Prowse featured in 102 on the bounce; a run that began at home to Manchester City in December 2018. Those two matches suspended in 2021 remain the only ones he has missed since.
4. Saints’ record holder
With such a run of Premier League matches for Southampton on his CV, it will not be surprising to learn that James Ward-Prowse is the Saints' record Premier League appearance maker.
Having made his debut in the Premier League on 19 August 2012, following Saints’ return to the top tier alongside the Hammers, the midfielder played 343 times in the competition over the next eleven years.
The closest player to Ward-Prowse’s record is full-back Jason Dodd, who featured in 329 Premier League matches between August 1992 and December 2004, while centre-back Claus Lundekvam achieved 290 Premier League appearances between September 1996 and May 2005.
The legendary Matt Le Tissier played in 270 Premier League matches for the Saints in a near-ten year spell, having previously played for the club 173 times in the First Division, while Francis Benali completes the top five with 243.
5. That golf swing celebration
Since discovering his goalscoring form, Ward-Prowse has almost always celebrated with a swing of an imaginary golf club!
It has become part a huge part of the 28-year-old’s routine, and James Ward-Prowse explained in 2020 where the celebration had come from.
He said, speaking to the Southern Daily Echo: “It was almost like a double reason really. My little boy is crazy into golf so I said to him the morning before that I’d do that, and also I was supposed to play golf with Ingsy (his former Southampton and now West Ham teammate Danny Ings) the next day.
"He actually ended up not playing with me because he had other plans, so the celebration wasn’t really for him in the end!"
6. Hammers connections
You may have clocked James Ward-Prowse’s mention of ‘Ingsy’ in that last entry, and that’s because the two were teammates at Southampton at the time.
The striker, who joined the Hammers from Aston Villa back in January, signed back with the Saints in 2019 from Liverpool. He spent two years with Ward-Prowse as a teammate before departing for Aston Villa.
Ings is not the only current West Ham player that Ward-Prowse has shared the pitch with. He was also a teammate of Jarrod Bowen in the England squad, playing at the same time as the Irons’ UEFA Europa Conference League match-winner for the Three Lions in a 0-0 draw with Italy in June 2022.
The newest acquisition has also played alongside plenty of former West Ham players in the past. The midfielder is a former club colleague of José Fonte, who moved to east London from the Saints in 2017.
Of course, the midfielder played alongside former West Ham captain Declan Rice, with the two featuring for England together on five occasions.
At international youth level, Ward-Prowse has also played alongside the likes of Jesse Lingard, Carl Jenkinson, Ravel Morrison and Dan Potts, all of whom featured in Claret and Blue.
7. International success
It is not just domestically that James Ward-Prowse has impressed.
With the Hammers preparing for a third consecutive season in Europe, the newest signing comes with experience of playing in the UEFA Europa League, featuring in qualifiers for Southampton in the 2015/16 campaign and all six group stage matches a season later.
In that run, Ward-Prowse helped his team to a famous 2-1 win over Italian side Inter Milan at St Mary’s Stadium, while also featuring in the home win against Sparta Prague.
Internationally, the new No7 has featured eleven times for England and has scored twice, with both goals coming in 5-0 wins in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying – against San Marino and Andorra, respectively.
