Report: Southampton will allow Liverpool target to leave if they are relegated

Liverpool target James Ward-Prowse will be allowed to leave Southampton on relegation

Liverpool have received a boost in their pursuit of Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse.

Last month, Football Insider (h/t Liverpool.com) claimed that the Reds, along with Manchester United and Newcastle United had sent scouts to watch the English midfielder in action. The 28-year-old has been one of the Saints’ best players in recent years.

He is a set-piece specialist who is the man to have over any free kick and corner kick your team gets. Most teams would be lucky to have a player like him in their team, especially considering how good he is at finding the attackers (and centre-backs on set-pieces) with his wand of a right foot.

According to talkSPORT (h/t Liverpool.com), the Saints will allow him to leave St. Mary’s if they are relegated this season. This is despite the player’s contract running until the summer of 2026 (Transfermarkt).

Liverpool must pay attention

He has been with them all his life. Ward-Prowse could very well retire as a one-club man if Southampton stay up. He has been very good for a number of seasons now, yet he hasn’t joined a ‘big six’ club.

But this could be a chance that Liverpool must pay attention to. They could repeat the same trick they did by signing Georginio Wijnaldum and Andrew Robertson when Newcastle United and Hull City were relegated, respectively.

Hopefully, in the situation that Southampton go down, they will not ask for a huge sum, considering they will not be able to offer the bare minimum to Ward-Prowse when it comes to competitive league football.

Southampton are 20th in the table with seven games left in the season, trailing 17th-placed Everton by four points. In an ideal world for the Reds fans, the Toffees will go down.

Most, if not all of them would take that over Southampton being relegated and signing Ward-Prowse on a cut-price deal. Nevertheless, if the Saints are to drop to the Championship, we can certainly consider the Englishman to add weight to our midfield.

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• Liverpool target Evan NDicka set to leave Eintracht Frankfurt for free in the summer
• Galatasaray want Liverpool star Ibrahima Konate on loan

We can expect a revamp in the centre of the park this summer. Ward-Prowse shouldn’t be the most high-profile name we consider but it will be one which can make for a very impressive addition as a squad player.