Southampton owners have a lot to prove to James Ward-Prowse this summer

James Ward-Prowse looks likely to give his boyhood club one more chance this season. And with a chance to represent England at the World Cup looming, it’s a massive decision.

This is a ‘make or break’ summer for Southampton Football Club. An oft-overused phrase, this really does look like the season that will define the club’s medium to long-term future.

If the club continues on its recent trajectory of Premier League points tallies – 52, 43, 40 – then it will be a campaign marred with doom, gloom and potentially relegation.

And the less successful the team, the less a move to West Ham, Everton or Aston Villa looks like a sideways move for James Ward-Prowse. Ambition is never a crime and the 27-year-old has felt a distinct lack of it coming from the club.

Saints’ new owners – the London-based sports investment company backed by Serb media mogul Dragan Solak – have a lot to prove since taking the reins in January 2022. But what they don’t have is a lot to follow.

The club’s former owner, the elusive Gao Jisheng, operated with a model based on significant income from player sales and not much expenditure in the other direction. Figures from June 2022 indicate that Saints have a net spend of -£2.8m over the last five seasons, second only to Norwich City’s -£46.8m – these two being the only teams of the 20 which have made a net profit over the previous five seasons.

Couple this with the grim reality of Burnley, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace all outspending Southampton on a consistent basis and a problem emerges in the form of a deeply stagnant playing squad.

There are some gems in this side – Tino Livramento had a revelatory impact last season and Kyle Walker-Peters did similarly in the season before, but there’s far too