Southampton star James Ward-Prowse takes contender for worst penalty of 2023 | OneFootball

Set-piece maestro James Ward-Prowse took a contender for the worst penalty of 2023 during Southampton’s pre-season friendly against Goztepe on Saturday.

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Ward-Prowse is regarded by many as the Premier League’s best free-kick taker. Some even think he’s currently the number one free-kick specialist in world football.

Only David Beckham (18) has scored more free-kick goals than Ward-Prowse (17) in Premier League history.

He’s also pretty decent from the penalty spot, too - which makes his latest spot-kick all the more surprising.

Ward-Prowse had a golden opportunity to cancel out Yalcin Kayan’s opener when Southampton were awarded a 58th-minute penalty.

But the 28-year-old uncharacteristically sent his effort into Row Z.

In fact, the ball may have been cleared the roof of the stadium it went that high up.

In fairness to Ward-Prowse, he did lose his footing - a la Beckham for England against Turkey in 2003. Nevertheless, it was a shocker.

Video: Ward-Prowse's horror penalty

Watch Ward-Prowse send his penalty to the moon here:

And here's some footage from the stands:

It’s safe to say he won’t take a worse penalty during his entire career.

What did Southampton boss Russell Martin say after the match?

Russell Martin, who was named as Southampton’s new manager last month, told the club’s website following the 1-1 draw: “It was good, I enjoyed it. Very different feel for a pre-season friendly. Good atmosphere, small pitch, difficult pitch.

“I saw some stuff I really liked, saw some stuff that we need to work on, which I think is inevitable for the second game.

“We’ve had two tough days of work in the heat too, the lads were out there on the training pitch this morning. So all in all I’m really pleased we were so competitive.

“We’re going to face that shape a lot in the Championship this season. We haven’t faced it yet because in training we’re working on our shape, it’s not something we’ve come across. So we’ll take so much learning from that, I’m really pleased.”

Will Ward-Prowse leave Southampton this summer?

Ward-Prowse has been strongly linked with a move away from Southampton following the club’s relegation from the Premier League in May.

Southampton value Ward-Prowse to be worth £40 million, according to the Daily Mail, who understand that West Ham will look to close a deal for around half that price.

The Saints’ understandably want to keep Ward-Prowse in the hope that he can drag them out of the Championship at the first attempt.

But Ward-Prowse will be acutely aware that his chances of making the England squad for next summer’s European Championships in Germany will be significantly enhanced if he joins another Premier League club before the end of the transfer window.

Capped 11 times by his country since 2017, Ward-Prowse knows he’s unlikely to be involved at Euro 2024 if he spends the 2023-24 campaign playing Championship football.