James Ward-Prowse embarrasses himself as footage emerges away from West Ham United
Julen Lopetegui raised many eyebrows at West Ham United during the summer as he completed a rebuild of the squad.
The Spaniard added nine new faces to his squad, including the loan signings of Carlos Soler from PSG and Guido Rodriguez to restock the Hammers’ midfield selections.
This was especially essential after the decision to offload Flynn Downes for £18million [The Athletic] and shipping James Ward-Prowse to Nottingham Forest on a season-long loan.
Fans were certainly surprised to see the latter move away from the London Stadium, given his seven goals and seven assists in the Premier League last season, but Lopetegui clearly saw something no one else had.
Since arriving at The City Ground, the 29-year-old has failed to record a single goal contribution and now has a red card to his name following Forest’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday (6 October).
James Ward-Prowse footage emerges away from West Ham United
Already on a yellow card for a foul on Cole Palmer, Ward-Prowse’s complete lack of control saw Chelsea about to leap on a counter-attack chance before falling on the ball with his hands.
The midfielder was never going to get away with the incident, especially with VAR intervention available, and no one will be more embarrassed by the moment than he is right now.
Ward-Prowse’s red card just sums his life up on the River Trent so far, having struggled to recreate his form from last season, and Lopetegui will be in no rush to reintroduce him into the Hammers squad.
Ward-Prowse has always been a respected player in the Premier League, especially during his days at Southampton as club captain, but fans have seen little of that same leadership recently.
There is always the chance that Lopetegui looks to add the midfielder back into the squad ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, but the player will want the ground to swallow him up at the moment.
In other West Ham news, Lucas Paqueta gushed over one of his teammates after what they did v Ipswich Town, “what a player”.
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