Heading back to your former club doesn't always work out in the all-too-often cruel game that is football.
Theo Walcott briefly returned to Southampton to see out his impressive career, having come through the academy ranks on the South Coast, but injury issues, and hot-and-cold form, made that reunion a tad underwhelming.
Oriel Romeu, who was adored during his first spell at St. Mary's for being a forceful holding midfielder, also returned for a stint last season which didn't go to plan, as he made just six Championship appearances under Tonda Eckert.
The worry would've been, when the news filtered through that James Ward-Prowse was making a spectacular Saints comeback this summer, that a gutting Romeu repeat would be on the cards, as the 11-time England international's reputation had taken a significant dip, after leaving Southampton in 2023.
Ward-Prowse's dented confidence
The 32-year-old had become synonymous with the red and white half of the South Coast.
He had made a mammoth 409 appearances for his boyhood club, when he decided to up and leave for West Ham United in the summer of 2023, costing the Hammers a hefty £30m in the process.
He would initially settle in well at the London Stadium, with seven goals and seven assists tallied up during his debut Premier League season, donning claret and blue.
Looking past that season, however, he would struggle for regular gametime, with Ward-Prowse shifted out on loan to Nottingham Forest during the 2024/25 campaign, and then to Burnley last season.
Nuno Espirito Santo just simply wasn't a fan of the beloved Saints' presence, with Nuno confirming in January of this year that he wasn't in his options moving forward.
Spells at Forest and Burnley would also see Ward-Prowse pick up just two sorry assists from 24 outings, as the midfield veteran's decorated career - which once saw him be noted as an expert free-kick taker by Pep Guardiola - unravelled at an alarmingly quick pace.
This is why Eckert and Co. managed to win him for such a slashed cost in August, with a reported £800k all it took to win back his services.
Safe to say, he is no longer considered a has-been in Eckert's first-team plans currently, as he has very much rewritten the narrative that his playing days were on a decline on his return to St. Mary's.
He has flipped the script
Since his return in August, Ward-Prowse has already made 14 first-team appearances for his treasured Saints in the demanding Championship.
That's four more matches than he managed during his entire one-season loan switch at Forest, with the number 30 slotting back in effortlessly to his boyhood club's starting XI plans to flip the script in style.
He looks reinvigorated again after those lifeless spells at the City Ground and Turf Moor, with a crazy 123 accurate passes registered last time out against Preston North End, as he constantly wanted to get on the ball to carve out an opening.
He is also getting stuck in with some ferocity, with five tackles and duels won away at West Ham letting him have the last laugh over Nuno - who is now looking for a new job - as Eckert's relentless visitors won a barnstorming contest 3-2 at the London Stadium.
Ward-Prowse would've felt purposeless when he was told he was no longer wanted at the Hammers, with his playing days already hitting their peak.
But, under Eckert, he has subverted all expectations, with a huge smile on his face when he spoke about that dramatic West Ham win, knowing he belongs again at a club who see him as a modern great with so much more to give.
Add us as a preferred source on Google