SAINTS captain James Ward-Prowse has signed a new five-year contract with the club.

The midfielder, who took the armband from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg last season, has been with Saints since the age of eight.

Now 25, Ward-Prowse has put pen-to-paper on the long-term deal ahead of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign. which starts in less than a month's time.

England international Ward-Prowse has made 278 first-team appearances for Saints, scoring 24 goals having made his debut almost nine years ago.

“I have said before that Prowsey is a player who shows everything that Southampton Football Club is about," boss Ralph Hasenhuttl told the Saints website.

“It is not only his story of being developed as a player here, but also the commitment and attitude he shows in his work. He was not playing so much when I arrived, but he has listened and worked on every aspect of his game, and that is why he has reached the level he is now at.

“He has a passion for the club that everybody knows about, and he is respected by everyone here. I know he is a role model for our younger players especially, and these are all reasons why he was the right choice to be a long-term captain of this team and this club.

“He deserves congratulations for this contract and this is very good news for our team and our club.”

Ward-Prowse added: “I think everybody knows it's a club that's very close to my heart.

“I started out here as an eight-year-old and just had that goal of wanting to reach the first-team, and my appreciation for the club is so big, because the people within it and the infrastructure has allowed me to follow my dream as a young boy who wanted to play professional football.

“They've given me every opportunity and every helping hand along the way to reach that target and for me again it's another opportunity to repay that faith to everybody who's played a part in my journey up until now.

“Not just within the team, but the club, I really feel that it's an exciting period for us. I think we've regained our identity as a team and I think we're heading in the right direction towards where we believe we can go as a club.

“We've certainly got the infrastructure and the people around here to make that happen, and it's up to us now to go and work hard in these next few weeks and ensure that we start the season the way that we finished the last one.”