Sheffield United should be all over transfer deal for Leicester City outcast this summer

Harry Souttar was frozen out by Enzo Maresca at the King Power last season and played just 188 minutes of football

Sheffield United are preparing for life in the Championship and the answer to their defensive problems could lie with Premier League newcomers Leicester City.

The Blades’ return to the top flight ended disastrously last season as they finished rock bottom with just 16 points and conceded a Premier League record 104 goals in 38 matches.

Chris Wilder is expected to overhaul his squad and shoring up the defence will be high on the list of his priorities. To that extent, the Blades could do worse than take a look at Leicester outcast Harry Souttar, whose fall from grace at the King Power Stadium remains puzzling.

Enzo Maresca froze Harry Souttar out at Leicester

The Scotland-born defender made a name for himself at Stoke City and established himself as a regular for Australia, who he is eligible to represent through his mother, after making his international debut in 2019.

Souttar was a revelation at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, helping Australia to keep clean sheets in the wins against Denmark and Tunisia as the Socceroos reached the knockout stage for only the second time in their history.

Defeat against eventual world champions Argentina in the Round of 16 did little to dissuade potential suitors, with Leicester winning the race to Souttar’s signature by agreeing a £15m deal with Stoke in January 2023.

The 25-year-old started each of his 11 appearances for the Foxes in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign under Brendan Rodgers but found himself on the bench in six of the last nine games of the season after the Northern Irishman was sacked and replaced by Dean Smith.

Leicester’s relegation at the end of the season meant a third manager in six months for Souttar, who was frozen out by Enzo Maresca last season and fell behind Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, Conor Coady, and Ben Nelson in the pecking order.

 Despite playing just 188 minutes of football across four appearances in all competitions for Leicester, Souttar has remained a regular for Australia, winning 10 caps for the Socceroos this past season.

Maresca has since moved down south to take charge of Chelsea and while Souttar will want to impress the Foxes’ new boss, the ongoing managerial uncertainty does no favours to Souttar and is hardly ideal for a player who had very little football on the clock last term.