Garth Crooks believes James Ward-Prowse is the ‘perfect replacement’ for Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
The Southampton midfielder scored twice on Sunday as his side came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Brighton.
Ward-Prowse has often been praised as one of the best players outside of the top six but former Tottenham striker Crooks feels a move to Liverpool to one day replace Henderson could be on the cards.
‘When you’re 2-0 down away from home at half-time you had better have someone special in your team capable of turning the deficit around otherwise the game might as well be over,’ Crooks told after selecting him in his team of the week.
‘Fortunately, Southampton have James Ward-Prowse, who seems to have the ability to dig the Saints out of almost any hole.
‘His two goals against Brighton were timely as they were beautifully struck. Southampton will do well to hold on to this player.
‘He’s got so much more to offer and would make the perfect replacement for Jordan Henderson at Liverpool.’
His brace against the Seagulls, including a textbook free-kick, saw him move to nine goals for the Premier League season, a personal best.
The 27-year-old narrowly missed out on a place at last year’s European Championships last summer but Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas believe he is doing enough to head to Qatar for this year’s World Cup.
‘In terms of England, he’s a dead certainty for me to go to the World Cup,’ Richards said.
‘He has to go because he is clever on the ball, he takes free-kicks, he’s dependable. A captain – he leads his team.
‘Southampton at the start of the season a lot of people expected them to go down, and he’s marshalled them all the way through the season. Nine goals is just remarkable.’
Jenas, added: ‘He’s obviously used just missing out on the European championship squad as fuel for him this season and I think that’s exactly why he has gone into this season with the form he has gone into it.’
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