On his return from the Asia Cup, Leicester City centre-back Harry Souttar has fired a defiant message to Enzo Maresca.
It’s been a difficult campaign for Harry Souttar. The towering defender has struggled to break into Enzo Maresca’s first-team plans.
The 25-year-old has only played 188 minutes of football this term, appearing three times in the Championship and once in a 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Liverpool.
Souttar’s lack of game time is down to the destructive duo of Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes, who have formed arguably the best defensive partnership in the division.
Maresca has discovered that the success of any winning formula is not to break that pairing up. Of course, that has been detrimental to the Australia international, who wants to play regular football.
During his time away at the Asia Cup, Souttar played in all five of Australia’s matches and scored in the round-of-16 demolition of Indonesia before losing against South Korea in the semi-finals.
Now, he returns to Leicester ready to be called upon if Maresca requires him at any stage as the Foxes aim to wrap up the Championship title.
Harry Souttar fires a defiant message to Enzo Maresca on Leicester City return
Although Souttar was rarely selected before jetting off on international duty, his determination and work ethic will give him every possible chance of breaking into the Italian’s plans.
“I’ll go back to Leicester, maybe not in immediate plans, but all I can do is go into training every day and work hard,” Souttar told ESPN and AAP. “I talked about it before about how important the group is within teams; not necessarily the starting XI, it’s the players that aren’t starting and maybe not in the matchday squad, how important they are.
“That’s been my job in the club season, going in there and giving 100% every day in training and supporting the boys that are playing and that’s all I can do.
“All my focus is, to try and get over [the disappointment of Asian Cup elimination]. Then I’ll be getting back to Leicester and going into training on Monday with a smile on my face, seeing the boys and getting ready for the next game.”
Souttar’s chance to shine is now
When a player is on the periphery of the action, sometimes all they need is the door to become ajar.
In the case of Souttar, the injury to Vestergaard – who is a doubt for Saturday’s clash against Watford – could have opened the door for him to start only his second Championship game this term.
The £40k-a-week titan may have competition in the likes of academy graduate Ben Nelson and the experienced Conor Coady, but the man who they signed for £15 million from Stoke last year is deserving of his chance.
As a player who impressed in the Premier League last season and knows he’s more than good enough for the second tier, watching on from the sidelines will have been frustrating.
But that hasn’t deterred the Aussie star from firing a message to Maresca that he’s ready to be called upon when needed, and that could be against the Hornets on Saturday