RISING star Kamari Doyle insisted it was “great to watch” Saints skipper James Ward-Prowse in his element of taking free-kicks.

As reported by the Daily Echo earlier this month, the midfielder's pre-contract agreement officially kicked-in when the player turned 17 on August 1.

And now Saints have confirmed the news of his first professional deal, with the attacker having spent close to a decade coming through the ranks at the club.

Doyle, like Ward-Prowse, is also a free-kick specialist and has spent time with the England senior international honing his skills.

Asked what that was like for him, in an interview with Saints website, Doyle said: “It’s great. Obviously, he is one of the best free-kick takers in the world.

“It is great to watch him and I got that chance when I was younger to take free-kicks with him.

“It’s amazing. All the first-team players are top professionals, so it’s good to take little bits off them and put that into my game.”

Doyle earned his professional contract at St Mary’s having impressed across more than 40 appearances for the under-18s and B team last season – the former being crowned Premier League South champions.

“I really enjoyed it last season,” he added.

“There were a lot of games and doing well with the under-18s when we won the league, that was an amazing achievement - with all my mates I’ve grown with from the age of seven was great.

“Getting the chance to push on with the B team in the Papa Johns (Trophy) games was a great experience, playing with older players and learning off them, as well as testing myself against older players to ultimately improve.”

England youth international midfielder Doyle has however suffered a minor injury setback.

During a 4-0 victory over Watford under-23s in pre-season, Doyle picked up an ankle ligament injury that could keep him out for up to 10 to 12 weeks.

Asked what his aims were for the upcoming campaign, he replied: “Firstly getting match fit.

“Then progressing with the under-23s and ultimately trying to get as much exposure to the first team as possible and trying to make my debut as soon as possible.”

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