Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse has explained the motivation behind the players' wage deferral decision.

Ward-Prowse says the whole squad wanted to "repay" the local community after they became they first became the first Premier League club to introduce wage deferrals.

"We wanted to make a good, mature, calculated decision on what was needed," he told BBC Sport.

"It wasn't done for a 'well done, you're the first club to do it'. It was done out of thinking ahead and thinking what is best for the club and the community.

"I'm proud, as a Southampton player, to be part of the club because the decision was made in a very good way and it really sums up and epitomises what the club is all about.

"A lot of other football clubs go about it in different ways, which is fine, but the way all the players and staff came together really sums us up what we are about as a club.

"On a Saturday at 3pm, the community comes together for the club, it's all about the team and what we're doing, and the way we went about it was ensuring that we could repay them by the decision that we made."