‘A bit surreal’: Ward-Prowse completes Southampton return from West Ham

[p]The 31-year-old left St Mary’s for the London club in a £30 million move following [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/southampton/WdKOwxDM/"]Southampton[/a]’s relegation to the Championship in 2023.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ward-prowse-james/GxdkTszJ/"]Ward-Prowse[/a] made 410 appearances for the Saints, scoring 55 goals and becoming renowned for his exceptional free-kick ability. He has now rejoined the Hampshire club as they attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League this season.[/p][embed guid="1252216a-663e-415d-9940-0fb1331ba804" url="https://x.com/SouthamptonFC/status/2093293609785172395?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Speaking after completing his return, the midfielder admitted that being back in Southampton colours felt strangely familiar.[/p][p][b]“It feels a bit surreal," [/b]he said. [b]"The last couple of days have been pretty intense, but I’m delighted to be back, and to be wearing the red and white again is truly special.[/b][/p][p][b]“It’s the place I call home, obviously having come through the academy since I was eight. It was an incredible journey up until the point that I left, but home is a special place and I always had it in the back of my mind that it was somewhere that I wanted to be. [/b][/p][p][b]"I’m here today very excited and looking forward to the challenge ahead.”[/b][/p][p]Ward-Prowse had one year remaining on his contract at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]West Ham[/a], with reports suggesting Southampton paid only £1m to bring him back to the south coast.[/p][p]He joins [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/downes-flynn/6XOripaN/"]Flynn Downes[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jander-caspar/zsLgxeCo/"]Caspar Jander[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bragg-cameron/0ImJg2S6/"]Cam Bragg[/a] in a potentially formidable midfield under manager Tonda Eckert.[/p][p]Southampton will be hoping Ward-Prowse can help transform their fortunes after a difficult start to the Championship campaign, with the club currently bottom of the table on negative points following the fallout from the major 'Spygate' scandal.[/p]