Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse expresses his belief in the team’s ability to quickly regain their place in the Premier League after suffering the pain of relegation.
The club’s fate was sealed by a lackluster 2-0 defeat to Fulham, marking their record-breaking 24th league loss in a single season.
Ward-Prowse, an England midfielder who has been with Southampton since the age of eight, has recently been linked with a potential move away from St Mary’s during the summer transfer window. However, he remains focused on the present and is not dwelling too much on his own future.
Instead, he remains optimistic about the team’s prospects and is confident that Southampton will bounce back from the disappointment of losing their top-flight status, a position they had held since 2012.
“(I’ve) full confidence, I think the club’s been there and done it,” he told Southampton’s website.
ALSO READ: Chelsea, Pochettino open talks over vacant manager role
“The squad that we’ve got now is incredibly young and they’ve got a lot to learn.
“They will have learnt a lot from this year and next year I’m sure the club will be doing everything they can to be back in the Premier League.”
ALSO READ: Fan who confronted Newcastle manager charged by police, banned for life by Leeds
Southampton were precariously placed for much of a miserable campaign, having continually occupied the bottom three since early November.
Second-half goals from Fulham pair Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic condemned Ruben Selles’ side to the drop with two games to spare.
Spaniard Selles was the team’s third manager this term following the sackings of Ralph Hasenhuttl and Nathan Jones.
Ward-Prowse concedes warning signs were present for a long time and admits Saints ultimately went down to the Sky Bet Championship with a whimper.
“It’s something, in all honesty, we’ve been fearing for a little while,” he said.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve not been performing at the level I believe we should be and I think this season’s caught up with us. There’s a way to lose games, there’s a way to maybe fail in sport and I think the way we’ve done it this year, that’s the disappointing way.
“I don’t feel we’ve really gone down with a fight and given everything we can.
“I feel for the fans because they don’t deserve to see what we’ve produced this season and that’s the sad thing.”