Southampton are the first team to have been relegated from the Premier League 2022-23 season and will be playing the Championship the next season. Following a decade-long stint, Southampton will bid farewell to the top-flight competition.
The confirmation of the Saints’ departure and their last-place finish came with a resolute 2-0 defeat against Fulham on their own turf. Southampton now have two remaining matches on their schedule, facing off against Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool.
The Future of Ward-Prowse
Southampton’s demotion to second-tier football means that a lot of players will exit the club; topping that list is James Ward-Prowse. The English international has been a sensation for the Saints and a playing legend for the club but doesn’t deserve to be playing in the second tier.
Ward-Prowse personally had an enticing season. In 43 appearances that he made for the club, he netted 10 goals while helping his players to net four. The 28-year-old will most likely leave Marco Silva’s side or be on loan for at least the next season but does not confirm anything as of yet.
“I’m not thinking too far ahead. We’ve just been relegated from the Premier League. I’m not looking beyond tomorrow,” BBC Sport quoted the Englishman. “It’s about sticking together and dealing with it in the right way. Over the last 10 years we have had that kind of consistency and that has wavered. It will be testing for everybody but these are the times that make you as a player and as a club, we have done it before and we will do it again.”
Ward-Prowse also opened up on the club’s relegation: “It’s disappointing. It is a moment that has been coming. We knew we had put ourselves in a difficult position.
“When these things happen you go away individually and as a club and ask if you have done enough? I don’t think we have. We talk about leaving things out there and ultimately that is why we are where we are now.”
“Have decisions been right? Have we been good enough on the pitch? or Have we done enough as a team to progress? I believe we should be performing at a better level than we have done and we have not done that on a consistent basis. The standards have slipped away and that is why we are where we are now.”
“I have been here right through from eight-years-old, for all the ups and downs. I’m sure with the good people at the club it will be back in the Premier League in no time.”
James Ward-Prowse has been in the Premier League for a long time now. Having made his debut for Southampton in 2011, he has played as many matches as any in England and can well be an asset for teams like Liverpool or Newcastle United who need an impetus in the centre of the field.
Man United too are said to be scouting him and will be a destination up to his scratch.
