James Ward-Prowse

[egg]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

He might go there, but I'd be very surprised and gutted if he did. It's even possible that Fulham and us coukd swap places next year. West ham makes sense, particularly because they have Europe. Fulham would be a bit bizarre. 

West Ham were the obvious pick for me until I heard of Villa interest, but that appears to have gone quiet. If it's Fulham or here, you'd hope he'd stay. 

[ElTrinidad]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

In your opinion...if he wants PL football (and wages) next season, and Fulham are the biggest bidder, he's either going there or staying here. 

He is on PL wages and will be for the next 4 years of his current contract.

Prowsey, I say give us till Jan and see where we are; arguably we will be able to sell for a higher price with the added premium that window brings & *IF* we’re storming the league at that point maybe he’ll decide to stick it out and get us back to the PL 

[John B]

5 hours ago, Dman said:

In a league which is probably the weakest its ever been. They wont finish 10th next season and if they do, they'll lose their manager. 

Fulham would be a ridiculous move for him, for the sake of not wanting to spend 1 season in the championship. 

Genuinely if I was him, I'd hold off for 1 season and see how we do. He'd be trading in being a captain, poster boy etc. for fucking Fulham or Brentford. 

What a load of Old Pony 

 

Fulham Villa Brentford and Brighton did well last season and will do well this season if they add players of JWP to their squads

 

And we would have done the same if we had bought some decent PL players of the last five or so years

[Charlie Wayman]

Why is he modelling the new kit if he's off

[ally_uk]

29 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Why is he modelling the new kit if he's off

To increase shirt sales and dupe deluded people into thinking he is staying... 

[Eric The Red]

Don't doubt there is a lot of truth in the Fulham story but it's all dependent on other moves and then them getting close to our valuation. I don't think 'close to £30m ' will be enough for them to win the race.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Depends which valuations you believe, but if you’ve got between £30-45m to invest in a defensive midfield player, do you pick JWP or Lavia?  Yes, they’re different types of player, but I can’t see any club stumping up the £m’s being bandied around for a 28 year old JWP and that’s not taking into account that he may actually want to stay faithful to Saints as a big fish in a smaller pond.

[skintsaint]

Just now, Saint Fan CaM said:

£30-45m to invest in a defensive midfield player,

Thing is JWP isn't a defensive midfielder player. We play him there due to a lack of personnel. I think when Jones was here he stuck him up the pitch and looked a lot more useful.

[Saint Fan CaM]

13 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Thing is JWP isn't a defensive midfielder player. We play him there due to a lack of personnel. I think when Jones was here he stuck him up the pitch and looked a lot more useful.

Agreed, but that’s part of the problem - where is his best position when he’s persistently been played deeper than his potential allows? I don’t think it’s just that we’ve not had personnel to sit besides Lavia…I think there’s more attacking intent offered by other players such as Alcarez. I’ve thought for some years that JWP has some useful attributes, but not enough in one particular area to make him indispensable…he’s a ‘luxury’ player and when he’s got lesser teammates around him, his shortfalls are amplified. For example, he looked SO much better when he had Romeu beside him.

Edited 23 June, 2023 by Saint Fan CaM

[DT]

21 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Why is he modelling the new kit if he's off

‘James, West Ham want you for £35m. You’ll have bigger wages, you can live in London and still play in the Premier League’
‘I can’t because I had my photo taken in a shirt’

😝

[OldNick]

On 22/06/2023 at 22:00, Charlie Wayman said:

Why is he modelling the new kit if he's off

Kane modelled the Spurs kit and not sure you could 100%sure he will stay at Spurs

[SuperSAINT]

18 hours ago, DT said:

Why is he modelling the new kit if he's off

Aside from James Bree, I can’t think of many players who could model it who are def staying.

[Sussex_saint]

I heavily doubt he would model it if he's close to leaving or the club think he will leave. The club are well aware of his lofty status within the fans, and wouldn't put him on the shirt knowing he's off/ likely to be off. I read somewhere a while ago that the club wouldn't be pushy about stopping a move, but slapping him with a minimum price of 40m (or whatever it is) is basically saying "fuck off lower league clubs, we'll only let him go if the Saudis come calling".

[DT]

Really? You don’t think we have a bunch of photos of other players in the shirt the moment he leaves? Which will happen, no question. We’re just wading through the Lavia offers first. Better player. Higher fee. 

[Dusic]

14 hours ago, Sussex_saint said:

I heavily doubt he would model it if he's close to leaving or the club think he will leave. The club are well aware of his lofty status within the fans, and wouldn't put him on the shirt knowing he's off/ likely to be off. I read somewhere a while ago that the club wouldn't be pushy about stopping a move, but slapping him with a minimum price of 40m (or whatever it is) is basically saying "fuck off lower league clubs, we'll only let him go if the Saudis come calling".

The pictures were probably done in March or April.

Don't see how it really makes a difference.

[eurosaint]

On 22/06/2023 at 19:22, ElTrinidad said:

He is on PL wages and will be for the next 4 years of his current contract.

Prowsey, I say give us till Jan and see where we are; arguably we will be able to sell for a higher price with the added premium that window brings & *IF* we’re storming the league at that point maybe he’ll decide to stick it out and get us back to the PL 

Most contracts have a built-in relegation drop in wages (normally 50%) so unless he is the big exception I doubt he'll get anything like Fulham terms by staying here 😐

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I wonder who has scored the most direct free kicks in the Championship, and if he stayed with us and we played attacking football, could JWP realistically beat that record in a season?

 

Then if we are promoted, he’s surely then going to beat Beckhams in the Premier League 🤔 

Might be his way of thinking 😂 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Behind Enemy Lines said:

I wonder who has scored the most direct free kicks in the Championship, and if he stayed with us and we played attacking football, could JWP realistically beat that record in a season?

 

Then if we are promoted, he’s surely then going to beat Beckhams in the Premier League 🤔 

Might be his way of thinking 😂 

not sure free kick records are all that high on JWPs list of priorities. 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

4 hours ago, Chez said:

not sure free kick records are all that high on JWPs list of priorities. 

Hence the 😂 emoji at the end 🤦‍♂️

[Osvaldorama]

On 24/06/2023 at 17:54, Sussex_saint said:

I heavily doubt he would model it if he's close to leaving or the club think he will leave. The club are well aware of his lofty status within the fans, and wouldn't put him on the shirt knowing he's off/ likely to be off. I read somewhere a while ago that the club wouldn't be pushy about stopping a move, but slapping him with a minimum price of 40m (or whatever it is) is basically saying "fuck off lower league clubs, we'll only let him go if the Saudis come calling".

Jack Grealish modelled Villa’s shirt with a quote saying “I absolutely love the club”. 
 

The next week he went to city. Media means fuck all. 

[skintsaint]

Has he gone yet?

[James G]

On 22/06/2023 at 14:49, CSA96 said:

Exclusive from Independent - Fulham in for JWP: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/southampton-james-ward-declan-rice-fulham-manchester-city-b2362372.html

- JWP prefers to sign for Fulham than West Ham
- He sees them and Marco Silva as a better fit for him
- He's already knocked back Brentford, who made an enquiry

Yes, Fulham would be a better fit, harking back to what I said before. But he might stay too.

You all say it all the time, he's a good player but he has his flaws. 

[Chez]

4 hours ago, James G said:

Yes, Fulham would be a better fit, harking back to what I said before. But he might stay too.

I wonder why he turned Brentford down? Presumably they were offering less money than we will be paying him in the Championship. Or perhaps he sees a move to a bigger club (Spurs, West Ham or whoever) as still being realistic? 

Edited 27 June, 2023 by Chez

[Dman]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

I wonder why he turned Brentford down? Presumably they were offering less money than we will be paying him in the Championship. Or perhaps he sees a move to a bigger club (Spurs, West Ham or whoever) as still being realistic? 

I wonder if we'd actually agree to not reduce his salary, if he agrees to stay for 1 more season..? Probably one of maybe 2 players who don't deserve a wage reduction and you'd expect we should be able to afford it with the big earners we'll inevitably shift. 

I think Brentford are one of the lowest payers in the league - that being said, I'm not sure JWP would move based on money alone..?

[Chez]

34 minutes ago, Dman said:

I wonder if we'd actually agree to not reduce his salary, if he agrees to stay for 1 more season..? Probably one of maybe 2 players who don't deserve a wage reduction and you'd expect we should be able to afford it with the big earners we'll inevitably shift. 

I think Brentford are one of the lowest payers in the league - that being said, I'm not sure JWP would move based on money alone..?

Not sure we can afford to pay him 60% of his salary never mind 100%.

Not surprising Brentfoord are low payers, as it take a a few years before everyone is on proper Prem money and I suspect they are very careful with their money and wouldn't be offering him anywhere near the £100k+ a week we reportedly pay him. Money will be a factor. He aint moving to Brentford for less money than he can get with us in the Championship, but being in the Prem will also carry some weight of course. In the end, he'll get both the money and the Prem status.

[Charlie Mealings]

Lavia and Ward-Prowse are entering the hottest market for no. 6s in years: Bellingham, Rice, Caicedo, Lavia, Tonali, Phillips, Kovacic and Ward-Prowse. All the top clubs are in. But while Lavia has completely disrupted the market, the skipper's prospects feel really slim. The change in fortunes over 12 months is wild. Wrote a bit about this here:

 

https://www.statemarys.com/p/starboy-and-the-skipper-destinations

 

Glad to have this done cos the Rice deal feels like it's coming to a close. After that you'd expect the other dominos to start falling.

[Sussex_saint]

The club's starting to kick out promo videos of players arriving at staplewood for Training - Alcaraz, JWP and Che...

[Saint Garrett]

2 hours ago, Charlie Mealings said:

Lavia and Ward-Prowse are entering the hottest market for no. 6s in years: Bellingham, Rice, Caicedo, Lavia, Tonali, Phillips, Kovacic and Ward-Prowse. All the top clubs are in. But while Lavia has completely disrupted the market, the skipper's prospects feel really slim. The change in fortunes over 12 months is wild. Wrote a bit about this here:

 

https://www.statemarys.com/p/starboy-and-the-skipper-destinations

 

Glad to have this done cos the Rice deal feels like it's coming to a close. After that you'd expect the other dominos to start falling.

Rice looks like its done to Arsenal. Kovacic gone to City, Caceido in talks with Chelsea, Bellingham and Tonali both have gone. Sounds like Phillips is staying at City for now. 

All the top clubs apart from seemingly City, want Lavia, so will be interesting how much they want him, or whether they'll let him return to City next summer. for a bargain fee.

West Ham will now be on the hunt for 2 CM's it seems, probably Palhina from Fulham, which might be why JWP is being linked with Fulham.

The merry-go-round has started!

[Saint86]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Rice looks like its done to Arsenal. Kovacic gone to City, Caceido in talks with Chelsea, Bellingham and Tonali both have gone. Sounds like Phillips is staying at City for now. 

All the top clubs apart from seemingly City, want Lavia, so will be interesting how much they want him, or whether they'll let him return to City next summer. for a bargain fee.

West Ham will now be on the hunt for 2 CM's it seems, probably Palhina from Fulham, which might be why JWP is being linked with Fulham.

The merry-go-round has started!

West ham could do a lot worse than Lavia to be honest - They're in Europe, flush with cash, and he should be able to step into their midfield and shine. We could also let him go there with a sell on fee knowing full well that there is a good chance of a profitable move in another 3-5 years. Ultimately we know that Lavia won't be at saints long term, whereas JWP might still end his career here - so out of the two i'd cash in on Lavia and keep Prowsey. Plus we also know that JWP is likely to play a lot more minutes than Lavia this season, and his free kicks may well prove invaluable. 

Edited 28 June, 2023 by Saint86

[pimpin4rizeal]

I’m starting to now wonder maybe he will stay, some of our media stuff like pictures with Martin with (our captain) getting the hopes up maybe. But unless he gets a really top offer he might be better staying here., no other club will treat him as the poster boy like we do, he’s probably not gonna make England team either.. is it worth leaving the god like status he will have if he stays for some mediocre prem club  ?

if he was to join a West Ham and it doesn’t work out his career could drop of pretty fast .. not the easiest decision 

Edited 28 June, 2023 by pimpin4rizeal

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

I’m starting to now wonder maybe he will stay, some of our media stuff like pictures with Martin with (our captain) getting the hopes up maybe. But unless he gets a really top offer he might be better staying here., no other club will treat him as the poster boy like we do, he’s probably not gonna make England team either.. is it worth leaving the god like status he will have if he stays for some mediocre prem club  ?

if he was to join a West Ham and it doesn’t work out his career could drop of pretty fast .. not the easiest decision 

I think he will almost certainly go to the hammers but I do think it's a bit of an own goal from the club to be focusing on him fairly heavily if he ends up going. They must have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to him. I'm surprised there haven't been some itk leaks. Someone must have spoken to him. 

Edited 28 June, 2023 by hypochondriac

[waylander]

Fee agreed for Rice to Arsenal so we will find out soon enough if W Ham want him.

[skintsaint]

14 minutes ago, waylander said:

Fee agreed for Rice to Arsenal so we will find out soon enough if W Ham want him.

Arsenal had their pants pulled down there.

[Saint Garrett]

2 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Arsenal had their pants pulled down there.

Cracking business from WH, got it done early too. Surprised Arsenal didn’t wait a bit to push price down. 

[Raging Bull]

18 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Cracking business from WH, got it done early too. Surprised Arsenal didn’t wait a bit to push price down. 

It does make you wonder if there’s more than a little substance to this. Seems off to me. 
 

 

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, Raging Bull said:

It does make you wonder if there’s more than a little substance to this. Seems off to me. 
 

 

sounds like utter drivel to me. Man City ain't intentionally helping Arsenal by putting a `fake' bid in. Absolute bollocks. Pep can't just ring up Arsenal and make a bid. City will have targets and plans that they have formulated over months. This ain't the days of Brian Clough doing deals and then letting his chairman know afterwards. Pep won't even be involved in bids for players. She is talking shite.

[Osvaldorama]

39 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Arsenal had their pants pulled down there.

You think? Rice is an absolutely wonderful CM. It’s probs a bit too expensive but they need a CM badly and he’s one of the best in the league. I can see him shining in a better team. 
 

 

[Maggie May]

2 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think he will almost certainly go to the hammers but I do think it's a bit of an own goal from the club to be focusing on him fairly heavily if he ends up going. They must have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to him. I'm surprised there haven't been some itk leaks. Someone must have spoken to him. 

Damned if they do include JWP in videos, damned if they don’t. 

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Maggie May said:

Damned if they do include JWP in videos, damned if they don’t. 

I don't think they'd be damned if they don't include him as much. If they know he's off it would make sense to feature him less prominently. It's not like there's a load of fans who don't expect him to be sold. 

[Chez]

27 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

You think? Rice is an absolutely wonderful CM. It’s probs a bit too expensive but they need a CM badly and he’s one of the best in the league. I can see him shining in a better team. 

he's a monster of a player. He's gonna give Arsenal that power that Viera gave them. Massive hole for West Ham to fill. They were looking at Alvarez from Ajax, but he seems Dortmund bound. Do they have better options than JWP?

[Crab Lungs]

Rice is awesome and playing in a better team I think you’ll see the aspects of his game that is under utilised at West Ham come to the fore.

[SaintBobby]

Rice is fantastic. I'd argue England's best player. In old school language, he is "engine room" but so much better than that. God knows if they are paying over the odds, but this is a brilliant player.

[Saint Keef]

Well. if West Ham do come calling for JWP, they apparently have over £100m sloshing around. Just like when we sold Van Dijk etc, other clubs know you have the money and the price for your target invariably goes up. 

(Phone call to Saints)...."Hello, West Ham here. We're interested in your Ward-Prowse chappy"  (Reply) "Is that the same West Ham that just sold your Rice chappy for, let me see, one hundred and five million pounds?"  (Reply) "Yes, that's right"  (Reply) "Fine. Shall we start negotiating at £80m. That would still leave you a very tidy £25m in the bank".......

I jest of course, but please feel free to complete the conversation. 

[pimpin4rizeal]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't think they'd be damned if they don't include him as much. If they know he's off it would make sense to feature him less prominently. It's not like there's a load of fans who don't expect him to be sold. 

Exactly this .. seing pictures with him and Martin with the tags our boss and our captain is making me think hmm maybe ..if the club know he’s going there’s no point causing disappointment.

but trying to think from his perspective if he leaves he gets premiership football  but he will be having to sacrifice being the poster boy and main man. We absolutely persisted with jwp it wasn’t until hasenhuttl that he really became a decent player.. down to him if he wants to just be in the premiership or a total Southampton legend 

[hypochondriac]

5 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Exactly this .. seing pictures with him and Martin with the tags our boss and our captain is making me think hmm maybe ..if the club know he’s going there’s no point causing disappointment.

but trying to think from his perspective if he leaves he gets premiership football  but he will be having to sacrifice being the poster boy and main man. We absolutely persisted with jwp it wasn’t until hasenhuttl that he really became a decent player.. down to him if he wants to just be in the premiership or a total Southampton legend 

Even Adam Blackmore was suggesting at least the possibility of it on twitter and I'd wager he knows a fair bit more than the average person given that he speaks to jwp regularly. They must surely have had some sort of informal chat that wasn't broadcast? I've been saying he's off for a while but the recent club stuff makes me start leaning towards him staying. 

[Kenilworthy]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Even Adam Blackmore was suggesting at least the possibility of it on twitter and I'd wager he knows a fair bit more than the average person given that he speaks to jwp regularly. They must surely have had some sort of informal chat that wasn't broadcast? I've been saying he's off for a while but the recent club stuff makes me start leaning towards him staying. 

I really thought JWP was bound to leave. But perhaps he is having doubts having seen that the realistic options are not as attractive as he hoped for? Yes Fulham and West Ham will put him back in the Premier League and on more money but they are not really taking him to the higher level that a move to say Spurs would have done.

[egg]

Just now, Kenilworthy said:

I really thought JWP was bound to leave. But perhaps he is having doubts having seen that the realistic options are not as attractive as he hoped for? Yes Fulham and West Ham will put him back in the Premier League and on more money but they are not really taking him to the higher level that a move to say Spurs would have done.

I've said before that the issue for him is who'd want him and play him. If his choice is Fulham or say a promoted club, is there any point in going? I fancied him to go to Chelsea early on but there's been no noise about that, then West Ham or Villa but seemingly they're looking elsewhere. Will be interesting to see what happens. 

[Sunglasses Ron]

All recent events have told me if that a departure isn't immediately forthcoming.  It's not even July yet, so anything can happen in the next two months or so.

Gut feel is that he'll be off if any established / top 10 team go for him, and I don't think anyone would begrudge him that (assuming the fee was right).

On the flip side, no-one can doubt his commitment to Saints and that's why he's still featuring prominently.

Definitely a case of carry on as normal unless told otherwise I'd say.

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

I really thought JWP was bound to leave. But perhaps he is having doubts having seen that the realistic options are not as attractive as he hoped for? Yes Fulham and West Ham will put him back in the Premier League and on more money but they are not really taking him to the higher level that a move to say Spurs would have done.

I think West ham have to be attractive given they have European football (albeit a second rate competition.) If he doesn't go to them for whatever reason then it's only really Newcastle that he may have some chance of moving to. Any teams below that can't offer European football and other than villa probably have at least a chance of going down again and maybe switching places with us. If I were him I would at least think about giving us a season. If he went up playing attractive football with us he really would cement his status as an sfc legend and that's got to be worth more than a decent season at Fulham. 

This could all be silly speculation person by the end of the week when he's gone to join Marco Silva but I do think the club certainly aren't acting like he's off soon. 

[John B]

35 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

I really thought JWP was bound to leave. But perhaps he is having doubts having seen that the realistic options are not as attractive as he hoped for? Yes Fulham and West Ham will put him back in the Premier League and on more money but they are not really taking him to the higher level that a move to say Spurs would have done.

He is not good enough for Spurs or other top clubs