Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse has revealed his goal of breaking David Beckham's record of goals scored from direct free kicks, as well as one day meeting the former Manchester United number seven.
With Beckham's tally of 18 the current benchmark in terms of free-kick goals in the Premier League, Ward-Prowse in now just seven short of the record with 11, one behind the joint second place pairing of Gianfranco Zola and Thierry Henry.
The Saints captain delightfully found the net at Selhurst Park last week to mark his third Premier League strike of the season, with Southampton currently 15th having played 17 games so far.
Ward-Prowse has set his sights on breaking the record, and hopes plenty more opportunities will fall his way in the second half of the 21/22 campaign.
At 27, Ward-Prowse is still yet to meet the man he describes as his footballing idol and hopes the chance will prevail, sooner rather than later.
“No I haven’t yet, no," he said, when asked if he had met the former Real Madrid star.
“This is the moment where I’m looking to see if he appears, I’ve had a couple of interviews like that before, but no I haven’t met him.
“If there’s a stipulation that I have to beat his record in order to meet him then I’ll be looking to do that as soon as I can.
“He’s an absolute legend, a great of the game, a huge role model and inspiration for me even now – and I’m 27.
“He’s obviously a legend in my eyes and I’m hopefully going to get his record, but we shall see.”
Staying loyal to the Saints for the whole of his career thus far, the English midfielder is renown for his remarkable set-piece ability and his ninth free-kick came against the Reds in his side's 3-2 defeat back in November 2020.
