Question marks on Harry’s game time
HARRY Souttar knows the importance of playing club games more regularly to keep his cherished spot in the Australia team. The 25-year-old centre-back has been linked with a loan return to Stoke City after only starting one league game for Leicester as they won the Championship title last season.
Sheffield United are also supposed to be interested and you can bet there will be others who are monitoring his availability.
He is currently in pre-season with Leicester and staking a claim to be part of the first team plans under new boss Steve Cooper, who has replaced Chelsea-bound Enzo Maresca.
But it says a lot that he has played a comparable amount of minutes for his country than his clubs over the last couple of years and that needs to change.
He was laid low by a dreadful knee injury while on international duty in November 2021 and had only just returned to play for Stoke in time to secure his place at the World Cup just over 12 months later.
He made seven league appearances for Stoke in 2022/23 in all before a £15m move across the Midlands to Leicester.
He then made 11 starts for Leicester in the Premier League to add to his single one from last term, making it 19 league starts in total in the last two-and-a-half years. He has won 20 caps for Australia in that time.
Souttar himself offered a glimpse of his situation before Cooper was appointed, telling
ESPN : “It’d be very clear if (Maresca) was still there, my situation; to try and leave the club and get more minutes because I’ve lost out on a lot of football. To still be selected for the national team I know I need to be playing football.
“I just have to wait to see what the club does and who comes in and then to try to impress the new manager that comes in.
“When I get back for pre-season, we’ll probably have a sit down after a few weeks and have a chat and see where we’re at. I think that’s the best thing to do.
“Obviously, we don’t have a manager yet. So I don’t know and I can’t comment or speculate on who it’s going to be. But I’ve just got to give myself the best shot of trying to impress him and the staff that will come in as well. We’ll just go from there.”
Australia manager Graham Arnold commented on Souttar’s situation before a couple of recent international games, saying he had been ‘surprised’ by his lack of game time at Leicester.
“What’s important is his club future, but with Harry coming with us and playing well it promotes him,” Arnold told the West Australian newspaper. “It shows everyone out there how good he is. I’ve been surprised by his lack of game time, because of what he’s done for us in the past.”
Cooper often played a back three at Nottingham Forest and is currently weighing up his options.
Leicester reporter Jordan Blackwell explained: “The signing of Caleb Okoli when City already had a good number of centrebacks in their squad suggested Cooper may be planning a backthree system.
“While that played out on Tuesday night (in a friendly win at Shrewsbury), it was reminiscent of last season, when one of the three positions was taken up by a natural full-back.
“If Cooper is to stick with this system, it leaves starting spots for just two recognised centre-backs. City have six in their squad. That doesn’t add up. It may mean two have to leave. Okoli has only just signed and Jannik Vestergaard renewed his contract this summer. That means two of Wout Faes, Harry Souttar, Conor Coady, and Ben Nelson will depart.
“Right now, it’s not clear who is most likely to go. But it does show there are plenty of deals, in and out, to sort before the transfer window closes if City are going to have a settled, balanced squad.”