Souttar focused on Socceroos amidst reported Saudi interest

Amidst speculation he will seek a move away from Leicester City, possibly to Al Nassr, Harry Souttar says his full focus is on the Socceroos - declaring it disrespectful for his mind to be elsewhere.

Australian defender Harry Souttar won’t let speculation surrounding his future at a club level distract from the Asian Cup, saying that paying heed to the “white noise” would be disrespectful to his teammates, coaches, and country. 

Souttar, 25, started in the heart of the Socceroos’ defence in their opening Asian Cup clash with India on Saturday, needing to do very little defensively as his side laboured against a low Indian block before eventually triumphing 2-0. 

Widely considered a future captain, it was the towering defender’s seventh start and full 90 for Australia across the past 12 months, a stark contrast to his ongoing dearth of minutes with club side Leicester City. 

After being unable to help the Foxes stay up after making an AU $26m move off the back of a standout World Cup, Souttar has played a total of 188 minutes across four appearances in all competitions so far in 2023/24 – seemingly not a part of new coach Enzo Maresca plans as the Italian guides Leicester to a runaway lead in the Championship. 

It’s led to significant speculation that the Scottish-born Socceroo will seek a move away from the King Power Stadium during the current window, be it on a permanent deal or just a loan, but speaking with Australian media from Doha, he said that was far from his thoughts. 

[A move] has not even crossed my mind,” he said. “As soon as I came into [Socceroo] camp it was just full concentration on what this tournament is and how we're going to succeed. 

“Everything else is in the background. To me, it's a little bit of white noise. 

“My full concentration is on Australia and I think it would be disrespectful to the country, my teammates, and the staff here if my head was anywhere else, thinking about these other things when we've got a massive tournament here. 

“That's what my whole concentration needs to be on.”

The most specific rumour to surface around Souttar came from Italian journalist Rudy Galetti, who tweeted that he was the subject of interest from Saudi side Al Nassr, the current home of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Such a move, according to Galetti, would require Al Nassr to find a new home for Seko Fofana, who himself is currently at AFCON with Côte d'Ivoire, to free up space on their foreign player list. 

Adding further noise, journalist Nicoló Schira reported overnight that Leicester’s pursuit of Inter’s Stefano Sensi would require them to sell both Souttar and Dennis Praet in order to comply with UEFA’s financial fair play regulations

“I can't control what people write and there's rumours flying around everywhere,” Souttar said. “My concentration has to be here. I can't let that affect [me]. 

“All I will say is that obviously it's not been great that I've not got match minutes at my club and obviously I know that that can't continue if I want to be a part of the national team. 

“But for the near future, my old concentration, it's just on Australia.”

Souttar, as one would expect, is loving life back in the Australian camp and playing football, the defender previously telling The Guardian about the “special feeling” that exists within the playing group. 

Parallels, albeit with different underlying causes, can be drawn between his lack of minutes coming into this year’s Asian Cup and his preparation for last year’s World Cup, also in Doha, where he was entrusted with a starting role by Graham Arnold even coming off an ACL injury. 

“Any player just wants to play football so I'm looking at it as a positive that I'm here and I'm getting you know minutes,” Souttar said. “Playing football, doing what I love again. 

“Obviously at the club, for me personally, it's been a frustrating time but the boys have done fantastic this season. They are where they are in the league for a reason. I can't complain too much. If that's what the manager wants, they're doing a great job. 

“I feel great. I think that I proved coming off my ACL injury in the World Cup, having not played football for a year, that I can come in and still play at a play level. It's different this time because I've been training and fit so I feel even better. 

“You always want to pull that shirt on, it just gives you an added something; you're running on adrenaline and you're playing football for a different reason as well, which always helps. There's always that little bit more of that something special in the air.”

Image Credit: Aleksandar Jason / Subway Socceroos