Southampton Football Club has confirmed that the side’s captain, James Ward-Prowse, has signed a new five-year contract at St Mary’s.
The 25-year-old midfielder, who has been with Saints since the age of eight, agreed the new deal ahead of the 2020/21 season and is now set to take his association with the club to beyond 20 years.
Ward-Prowse, a former England Under-21 captain who has been capped twice at senior level for his country, represents another shining example of the club’s Academy and its reputation for developing young talent, progressing all the way through the junior ranks to become an integral member of the first-team, before taking the armband in the latter stages of the most recent season.
It is almost a decade ago now, in October 2011, that Ward-Prowse made his first-team debut, before being handed the first of his 231 Premier League appearances to date in August 2012.
Ward-Prowse, who remarkably played every minute of the latest Premier League campaign, has featured a total of 278 times for the senior team across all competitions, scoring 24 goals.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl said: “I have said before that Prowsey is a player who shows everything that Southampton Football Club is about.
“It is not only his story of being developed as a player here, but also the commitment and attitude he shows in his work. He was not playing so much when I arrived, but he has listened and worked on every aspect of his game, and that is why he has reached the level he is now at.
“He has a passion for the club that everybody knows about, and he is respected by everyone here. I know he is a role model for our younger players especially, and these are all reasons why he was the right choice to be a long-term captain of this team and this club.
“He deserves congratulations for this contract and this is very good news for our team and our club.”
James Ward-Prowse said: “I think everybody knows it’s a club that’s very close to my heart.
“I started out here as an eight-year-old and just had that goal of wanting to reach the first-team, and my appreciation for the club is so big, because the people within it and the infrastructure has allowed me to follow my dream as a young boy who wanted to play professional football.
“They’ve given me every opportunity and every helping hand along the way to reach that target and for me again it’s another opportunity to repay that faith to everybody who’s played a part in my journey up until now.
“Not just within the team, but the club, I really feel that it’s an exciting period for us. I think we’ve regained our identity as a team and I think we’re heading in the right direction towards where we believe we can go as a club.
“We’ve certainly got the infrastructure and the people around here to make that happen, and it’s up to us now to go and work hard in these next few weeks and ensure that we start the season the way that we finished the last one.”
