JAMES Ward-Prowse will captain Saints for the rest of this season after Ralph Hasenhuttl stripped Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg of the honour.

Hasenhuttl hinted that he would take the armband off Hojbjerg in a previous interview and he’s stuck to his word.

Saints’ manager doesn’t think it’s appropriate for the Danish international to lead the St Mary’s side out when he has just a year left on his contract.

Hasenhuttl said: “He [Hojbjerg] will not be the captain.

"I spoke to him, we have an agreement. He wanted to receive clearly what I think about it, and I said if you do not extend your contract you cannot captain anymore this team.

"It’s a special situation for such a player who is very professional, absolutely a difficult thing to handle and he shows immediately that it’s absolutely ok for him, yeah.

"Our new captain will be Prowsey in the future.

"I told him in the friendly game that he was the captain from now, and it’s important we make this decision last week so everybody knows what it is about and everyone can concentrate on his job and that’s what I ask."