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Harry Souttar, Socceroos v Argentina: What’s next after Leicester EPL relegation
Towering Socceroos defender Harry Souttar has determined his future after suffering Premier League relegation with Leicester City. Before again facing Argentina, he spoke with ADAM PEACOCK.
Success and failure are as intertwined in a sports person’s life as much as breathing and sleeping. Sure to occur, and often.
Harry Souttar has had a whole heap of success and failure packed into the past six months of his life.
Roaring highs included a successful return from an ACL tear to be arguably the Socceroos best at the World Cup. A move to recent Premier League champions Leicester followed.
Galling lows included the sacking of the man who brought him to Leicester, then the ultimate ignominy: relegation.
It’s a lot to take in. Fair enough if Souttar wanted June to be a period of reflection around a hotel pool bar. Instead, he’s in China, about to play the world champions, Argentina, again. Lionel Messi, again.
And Souttar cannot think of anywhere better to be because, as he puts it: “There is never a bad time to play for the Socceroos.”
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Beijing is abuzz. Argentina and Messi are in town to play Australia in a hastily-arranged friendly this coming Thursday.
The 80,000-seater Bird’s Nest Stadium, hub of the 2008 Olympics, sold out in one minute.
Yes.
One. Minute.
Hundreds of fans hover outside the Socceroos team hotel around the clock.
“I think they thought this was the Argentina hotel, not the Australian one!” Souttar laughs to CODE Sports, before a wisecrack at best mate Riley McGree.
“And Riley thinks it’s for him.”
None of it quite true. Hundreds are there for the Socceroos, though thousands are camped outside Argentina’s hotel, eager for a peak at Messi and his world champion cohort.
Argentina left Qatar with a story for the ages, though the mid-plot thriller against Australia in the round of 16 remains in the minds of both the beaten Socceroos and La Albiceleste.
Souttar has watched the 2-1 loss back and can’t move his mind past bitter reality.
“Got to be proud of it but at the same time, we lost a football match,” Souttar says matter-of-factly.
“Speak to people who say, ‘Ah you got to the last sixteen’.
“There were some good moments but ultimately, we got beat when our goal was to win the game.”
Souttar is only too happy to get another look at Messi, the undisputed king of world football, who hauled Argentina to another level when it counted against the Socceroos; like his 35th-minute strike, which skidded under a lunging Souttar for the opener.
“The guy was so strange to play against in the fact that he’d be all over the pitch,” Souttar says of Messi.
“Be at right back, left back, standing 20 yards offside, get the ball on the right wing, left wing, but then all of a sudden just do a little bit of magic, like for the first goal.”
Messi is in China with the ink apparently drying on an eye-watering deal with MLS club Inter Miami, where it looks like he’ll play out his club career with a convoluted $200 million, two-and-a-half-year contract complete with profit-sharing agreements with MLS broadcaster Apple TV.
Club-wise, things are a little different for Souttar, who started last season at Championship club Stoke, before getting his dream move to the Premier League in January.
By May, Souttar found himself preparing for another season in the Championship as Leicester were relegated.
“That’s the worst thing on the final day, looking around the stands and seeing how much it means to people,” Souttar says.
“The backroom staff as well, they are all supporters of the club. Lot of the players too, growing up through the academy.”
Aside from the significant emotional toll, relegation from the Premier League is estimated to cost a club $180 million in revenue.
Leicester, Premier League champions just seven years ago, have already let go seven players who were off contract. Further departures, such as valuable assets Harvey Barnes and James Maddinson, are expected to follow to help balance the books.
Souttar, though, won’t be going anywhere.
“Leicester put a lot of faith in me,” he says bluntly. “One hundred per cent I’ll be there, can’t wait to get going next season.”
The towering central defender, still just 24, speaks with absolute clarity about the events that led to Leicester’s drop from the world’s most lucrative league; specifically, a flash on April 1 which still burns.
Away to Crystal Palace, Leicester were hanging on to a valuable point, 1-1 in the 95th minute, when Souttar lost track of the man he was marking, Jean-Phillippe Mateta for a split second.
Mateta scored. Full-time: Palace 2, Leicester 1.
The next day, manager Brendan Rodgers was sacked.
“Feeling somewhat responsible for the manager,” Souttar says.
“He had faith in me to get results and we didn’t really do that. Felt responsible for his sacking but it’s just about moving forward. Really excited for the new season to start.
“I loved the (Premier League), going away to Old Trafford, the Etihad, Tottenham. Had a taste of it, got to do everything next season to get that back.”
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Which makes this game against Argentina, on the surface, a slight inconvenience.
In a normal calendar, without a mid-season World Cup, the June friendlies would be done by now and Souttar’s main worry would be how much 50-plus to put on.
Yet the prospect of meeting up with his Socceroos brothers again made him clear the diary.
“And as soon as we found out it was Argentina, it’s a no-brainer,” Souttar says; music, sweet music, to Graham Arnold’s ears.
And like his national team manager, Souttar is eager for the Socceroos to continue their ascent, toward next January’s Asian Cup.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni had the choice of a number of teams to play in Beijing this week but lumped for Australia, given the absorbing contest in Qatar.
“It’s a nice feeling to get that said about you from a manager that has won a World Cup,” Souttar says. “Can’t wait to get on the grass and play, so excited to take them on.”
