Southampton reject Aston Villa's £25m bid for Ward-Prowse

 

Southampton have rejected Aston Villa's £25m bid for James Ward-Prowse, reports The Athletic.

 

Ward-Prowse only signed a new five-year deal with Southampton last summer and want far more than £25m to cash in on their captain.

 

The England international first emerged as a transfer target for Villa at the start of the summer but Dean Smith's side focused on strengthening elsewhere.

 

Villa's move is unrelated to reports Jack Grealish is on the verge of completing a British transfer-record £100m move to Manchester City.

 

Smith's side are pushing ahead with their transfer business regardless of whether Grealish stays or goes.

 

 

Ward-Prowse has remarkably played every minute of the last two Premier League campaigns and has developed into one of the best set-piece takers in the world.

 

In fact, he has the best conversion rate from direct free-kicks (15+ attempts) of all Premier League players (13.6%).