Oriol Romeu thinks his Southampton team-mate James Ward-Prowse is the best free-kick taker in the world.
The Saints skipper has had a magnificent season, scoring 10 goals and picking up five assists. The 27-year-old also won the Hampshire Player of the Season award, Players’ Player of the Season and Goal of the Season.
His numbers this season have been bolstered by superb free-kicks, particularly at Wolves and Leeds United. The midfielder is now second on the all-time Premier League record for direct free kicks. Ward-Prowse is on 14, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry on 12, and only David Beckham is ahead of him on 18. Now Saints star Romeo has also sung his praises.
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“From what I’ve seen, I’d say yes (he’s the best free-kick taker in the world). He’s crazy. Free-kicks around the box are always a goal opportunity but so are corners, side-kicks, crosses are always dangerous. I think we should score more goals with flying balls, but also in training, when he has a shot he scores three centimeters from the top corner”, he said in The Big Interview with Graham Hunter.
“The normal person like me or anybody else, the shot is five yards around the fence, the flight of the ball, his touch, it’s always so clean and perfect – he rarely changes. He’s very precise and very clean on contact which is what makes him successful. There are two things in there, one, he has a God given talent and then on the training side he trains. Every week you see him train on free kicks but he loves to do it, it’s a bit of both.”
Along with Brentford manager Thomas Frank, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola also believes Ward-Prowse, who said he only trains to take six free-kicks a week, is the best ball specialist death of the planet. But he added that there is much more to his game than this special skill.
He said in January: “There is no better taker. Southampton have the best free-kick taker I have ever seen, or at least he is in the world at the moment. He is so good that can -maybe you miss the footballer a bit. He is a great team player, off the ball and with the ball. He really understands the game but it’s his free kicks, set pieces and corners that people pay more attention to.”
