SUPER skipper James Ward-Prowse has been named the Daily Echo Saints Player of the Season for the 2020-21 campaign. The midfielder sealed top spot in the online vote from Echo readers, with 46 per cent in total. He was ahead of Stuart Armstrong (32 per cent) with Kyle Walker-Peters (nine per cent) rounding off the top three. The award seals an impressive double for the 26-year-old, who also last week scooped the club’s supporters’ player of the season accolade. Ward-Prowse was on Tuesday named in Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man England squad ahead of this summer’s European Championships. Speaking about the midfielder while announcing the squad, Three Lions manager
Gareth Southgate said: “I’ve worked with James since my very first game in the under-21s and it has been amazing to see his life progress, really. He is a father, he gets married soon and it is lovely to watch players go through that journey in their life. To see him go from being a young player under Mauricio (Pochettino) to a great captain under Ralph (Hasenhuttl), it’s fantastic. He is a fantastic professional. That is why he has been able to hammer those games out. There is always an element of luck in having an injury-free run like that but you always know with James that he will do everything he can to get himself in the best condition that he can be in, to recover in the best possible way and to eat the right things.”
Ward Prowse has made 322 senior appearances for Saints, having come through the club’s youth academy, joining at the age of eight. Speaking about the talismanic midfielder, Saints boss
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “It’s not surprising for me, a player who played every minute this season is unbelievable. His physicality and his performances are outstanding. That’s our captain on the pitch and he is on the way that he is a very important player for this club for the long term, I think.”
