In many ways James Ward-Prowse has epitomised Southampton during their 11-year stay in the Premier League.
A product of their gilded academy, supremely technically gifted, lovely to watch, entertaining yet hardworking, possessing burning ambition and aspirations to achieve where others doubt you can.
He is the one remaining player who has been there since the start and yet with confirmation of relegation imminent it will likely bring to an end his own time at a club he has played for since nine years old. One final link to those great times of old extinguished.
Ward-Prowse, 28, has never played for the club in the Championship and it is unlikely he will next season. Though he made his debut during the season they were promoted to the Premier League, it came in the Carabao Cup.
His league debut was the inaugural match of Southampton’s Premier League return against Manchester City and he would be at the heart of those wonderful seasons ahead when they defied expectations and competed in Europe.
Looking at the team that first day back, there was a blend of the young and unknown. Alongside Ward-Prowse in the starting lineup was Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin. On the bench were cult hero Rickie Lambert and a baby Luke Shaw. They were destined for England caps, for Manchester United, for Liverpool, for Champions League nights and cup finals.
As one clutch of players left, another would be found, unearthed from the academy or recruited using a scouting network and metrics no one else was using. But through it all Ward-Prowse remained, playing for 10 managers — three alone this season — alongside players such as Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane, made captain in 2020.
He is the only one who has seen it all from start to a finish that could well be confirmed against Fulham on Saturday. They are eight points adrift of safety and must win all three of their remaining games while praying that an extraordinary sequence of events means Leeds United, Leicester City and Everton fail to win any.
And if, as expected, Ward-Prowse leaves this summer to remain in the Premier League, he will bring to a close an enthralling chapter in the south coast club’s story that concluded with new owners attempting to rediscover what made Southampton great in the first place.
Though they have faced anger and criticism this season owners Dragan Solak and Rasmus Ankersen and chief executive Martin Semmens believe the only way to get Southampton back in the top 10 is to take a long-term approach.
The young players are not only to be bought, fattened up and sold on, although if the price is right profits will be welcomed. They want to develop a squad to get back to where they were before.
Six of their 10 signings last summer were under the age of 21. “Turning potential into excellence,” is how Ankersen has referred to it. Although perhaps that inexperience has cost them this season.
Southampton’s most expensive player sales of the Premier League era
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool): Sold for £75m in 2017
- Sadio Mane (Liverpool): Sold for £34m in 2016
- Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United): Sold for £31.5m in 2015
- Luke Shaw (Manchester United): Sold for £30m in 2014
- Danny Ings (Aston Villa): Sold for £30m in 2022
- Adam Lallana (Liverpool): Sold for £25m in 2014
- Dejan Lovren (Liverpool): Sold for £20m in 2014
- Calum Chambers (Arsenal): Sold for £16m in 2014
- Jannik Vestergaard (Leicester City): Sold for £14m in 2021
- Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool): Sold for £12.5m in 2015
In January, when they tried to rebalance the squad with more than £50m spent, there was expectation they would survive. In the absence of a director of football — Jason Wilcox did not arrive until late January — recruitment was led by Ankersen and a transfer committee including Semmens, departing managing director Toby Steele and chairman Henrik Kraft.
It didn’t work, neither did unearthing the next manager to get it right. Nathan Jones, recruited to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl, was appointed to fix problem areas, such as the cohesion of the squad, weakness on set plays, being more defensively harder to beat, keeping more clean sheets. They thought Jones had a track record of doing this, that he ticked a lot of boxes, that they could maintain the high press and aggression of Hasenhuttl but strengthen elsewhere.
A few months ago they were still future planning based on staying in the Premier League but, as with any club in their position, there was always a plan in the background in case the worst would be confirmed. Even so, financially the club remain in a strong position.
They hope to be back soon and if there is any silver lining it is that time in the Championship could give them a chance to reset, to take a breath and streamline all of the ideas of the new owners to finding success in their own way again, give the main group of young players the chance to blend and gel. There is also hope the current U18s could prove fruitful.
And relegation will not stop them exploring a multi-club ownership model that, further down the line, can benefit Southampton further. The future could be brighter than it may currently seem and it would help if they can find a few more Ward-Prowses.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/TbP6z3o
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