A footballing great has described a West Ham man as better than him in his speciality.

While West Ham have had some world-class players over the years, it’s not very often at all that they’ve been able to have a player who is one of the best ever in a certain area. However, they had exactly that in James Ward-Prowse.

There’s a very strong argument to be had that the midfielder is the best free-kick taker the Premier League has ever seen – so it’s typical that he didn’t score a single one during his season at the club.

The former Southampton captain has scored 17 Premier League goals from free-kicks, leaving him just 1 behind David Beckham’s record.

Despite not quite having the most, football legend and set-piece specialist Gareth Bale believes that it is Ward-Prowse who is the best.

“I’d probably go James Ward-Prowse to be honest with you,” Bale said when asked who he believes the best free-kick taker in Premier League history is. The interviewer went on to ask if he’s better than Drogba, Henry, and Beckham, but the former Spurs winger stuck to his guns.

Obviously the Englishman’s specialty will not benefit the Hammers this season as he’s out on loan at Nottingham Forest, but it is baffling that he didn’t score a single one throughout the last campaign, especially considering he scored directly from a corner. Perhaps the pressure of beating Beckham’s record got to his head, or perhaps he just didn’t have enough opportunities compared to what he got at Southampton.