With a record-breaking £15 million player who initiated a gamble, Stoke City hit gold.
In order to develop young kids into first-team players, Stoke was looking to add them to its academy while they were still in the Premier League.
That January, Tyrese Campbell from Man City, Nathan Collins from Irish club Cherry Orchard, and Souttar from Dundee United joined. While Campbell made 164 appearances for Stoke over eight years before his free transfer to Sheffield United last summer, Collins captained Stoke at the age of eighteen and has since played in the Premier League for Burnley, Wolves, and Brentford, breaking the record fee paid for an Irish player twice at the age of just twenty-four.
After impressing during his loan stint with Fleetwood Town in League One during the second part of the 2018–19 season, Souttar went on to impress once more during his subsequent loan stint with the Cod Army. Souttar established himself with Fleetwood before making his debut for the Potters first team and the Australian national team in 2020–21. He played 38 Championship league games that season and earned caps against Chinese Taipei and Nepal.
The six-foot-seven centre-back would continue to be an important member of the team the following season and captain the team four times before ripping his cruciate ligament, which prevented him from playing the remainder of the 2021–2022 season and the first part of the 2022–2023 one. The Australian would recuperate in time for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he received high praise for his performances. Souttar had done enough to draw Premier League notice, but the Socceroos would eventually lose to eventual victors Argentina in the Round of 16.
The 26-year-old reportedly paid £15 million to join Leicester City in the Premier League on deadline day in January 2023. The Foxes were looking to the Australian, who was born in Scotland, to strengthen their defence and try to avoid relegation. Souttar made 12 appearances for Leicester in the Premier League before they were relegated, and he was left out of the squad for the Championship season after that. Head coach Enzo Maresca preferred Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes because they were better suited to his style of playing out from the back.
The Australian’s loan to Sheffield United was terminated midway through the previous season because he ruptured his achilles tendon. The defender, who is now back in the Championship with Leicester, is not anticipated to be ready for action until 2026, and it is yet unknown if he will be included in new manager Marti Cifuentes’ future plans. It could be hard to bet on the defender receiving any kind of redemption at the King Power Stadium, though, considering how his Leicester career has gone thus far.
Stoke seems to have pounced on Souttar at the ideal moment, having only played 36 league games since departing the Potters in early 2023. The Australian has been out of action for a long time due to two terrible injuries, and it appears like Stoke has gained something in return for Leicester’s loss.
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