After being heavily linked with a move to fellow Premier League club Aston Villa during the previous summer transfer window, Southampton midfielder and club captain James Ward-Prowse ended up staying at St. Mary's and eventually signed a new five-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2026.

As a product of Southampton's youth academy, Ward-Prowse made his senior debut for the club in October 2011 in a cup match against Crystal Palace under former Saints manager Nigel Adkins.

Since then, the 26-year-old, who is currently earning a weekly wage of £45k-per-week according to Spotrac, has made a total of 331 appearances for Southampton across all competitions, scoring 35 goals and providing 42 assists along the way. That shows just how important he has been for the club over the years.

So far this season, Ward-Prowse has played 90 minutes in all of Southampton's Premier League games apart from their recent 3-1 defeat against Chelsea where he got sent off in the second half after initially finding himself on the scoresheet.

Despite that, his career has gone from strength to strength, regularly featuring in Gareth Southgate's England plans.

Consequently, the 26-year-old's market value has increased significantly in recent years. Acquired for nothing as he rose through the academy, his estimation was listed at just £450k in September 2012 according to Transfermarkt. However, now it's rapidly risen to £28.8m, the highest it has ever been throughout his career. That demonstrates just how much he has progressed and developed on the south coast.

Taking a closer look at the increase in his market value, in April 2020, his value was at £13.05m, indicating that his value has more than doubled in over a year.

While he's going to miss the next league three games for Southampton as a result of his red card in the defeat at Stamford Bridge, we see no reason why Ward-Prowse won't regain his place in the team after his ban has ended.

The Englishman will have to start scoring goals and providing assists on a regular basis throughout the rest of the campaign if he's going to help Southampton avoid being dragged into a relegation battle in the Premier League. At present, they are currently sat in 17th place in the table with just four points from their opening seven league games.

If Ward-Prowse can do this, we see no reason why his overall market value can't continue to increase even further, potentially luring other clubs to try and sign him in future transfer windows.

In other news: 0 goals/assists: Saints gem who's on "a different level" enduring nightmare loan spell - opinion