James Ward-Prowse takes the most uncharacteristic penalty of his career in pre-season game

He may be considered one of the best set-piece takers in world football but even the trusty right boot of James Ward-Prowse can get it wrong sometimes.

Southampton came up against Turkish second-division outfit Goztepe SK on Saturday night at the Bornova Aziz Kocaoğlu Stadium in Izmir, Turkey.

It was the second game of their pre-season campaign and well, the Saints struggled in the opening stages. In fact, Russell Martin's side could have been two goals down.

After going 1-o down after 26 minutes, recently-relegated Southampton had the opportunity to equalise in the 57th minute, when the usually-reliable James Ward-Prowse stepped up from 12 yards.

But in arguably the most uncharacteristic moment of his career to date, the 28-year-old blazed over the crossbar after losing his footing.

James Ward-Prowse with the worst penalty in football history pic.twitter.com/Z9mrfhBqjT

— Transfersthathappened (@actualtransfers) July 15, 2023

Charly Alcaraz equalised for Southampton after the hour mark, although Ward-Prowse's unfortunate effort from the spot was the biggest talking point on social media.

Here's how social media reacted to his penalty miss.

One fan said: "Bro thought it was a free kick," while another commented: "JWP with officially the worst penalty in the history of world football."

A third wrote: "My man helped him up then started laughing."

A fourth added: "I remember him saying it is easier for him to score a free kick than scoring a Pk. Bro thought it was a free kick."

😂😂😂 https://t.co/eN9Wz2b9kb pic.twitter.com/Y6nN9HeGkO

— Don Sibsta (@SibstaJ) July 15, 2023

Back in March, Ward-Prowse admitted he would rather take a free-kick than a penalty after he missed a spot-kick in their Premier League clash against Leicester City.

“I’d rather a free-kick, to be honest. But there you go, sometimes you score them and sometimes you don’t,” he told Sky Sports.

“Fair play to the keeper, he read it this time. But the main thing is we came away with three points and that is better than any goal you can score.”

Ward-Prowse has been heavily linked with a move this summer. Ahead of the summer window opening, it was suggested that Aston Villa, West Ham and Tottenham were thought to be keeping tabs on the midfielder.

Transfer expert Ekrem Konur went on to suggest that the Championship club want £52 million for the 28-year-old this summer.