Harry Souttar

Harry Souttar

Souttar with Australia at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup
Personal information
Full name	Harry James Souttar [1]
Date of birth	(1998-10-22) 22 October 1998 (age 25)
Place of birth	Aberdeen, Scotland
Height	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) [2]
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Leicester City
Number	15
Youth career
	Brechin City Boys
	Celtic
2013–2015	Dundee United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2016	Dundee United	2	(1)
2016–2023	Stoke City	61	(1)
2018	→ Ross County (loan)	13	(0)
2019–2020	→ Fleetwood Town (loan)	45	(4)
2023–	Leicester City	15	(0)
International career‡
2015–2016	Scotland U17	2	(0)
2016–2017	Scotland U19	3	(0)
2019–2021	Australia U23	7	(0)
2019–	Australia	29	(11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:25, 6 January 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:06, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Harry James Souttar (born 22 October 1998) is a professional football player who plays as a centre-back for EFL Championship club Leicester City and the Australia national team.

Born in Scotland, Souttar began his senior career there with Dundee United before moving to England with Stoke City in 2016. He then joined Leicester City in 2023. After initially representing Scotland at youth level, he switched to play for Australia in 2019 and was a member of their squad at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. His brother John Souttar plays for Scotland.

Early life

Souttar grew up in Luthermuir and attended Luthermuir Primary School Luthermuir, and subsequently Mearns Academy in Laurencekirk. ^{[3] [4]} He played youth football for Brechin City Boys Club and was attached to Celtic before joining the academy at Dundee United in July 2013. ^[5] His older brother John is also a professional footballer and plays for Rangers, as well as representing Scotland. Their mother Heather was born in Port Hedland, Western Australia which meant the Souttar brothers were eligible to represent either Australia or Scotland at the international level. ^{[6] [7]} They grew up supporting Brechin City where their father, Jack, had played in the 1970s. ^[8]

Club career

Dundee United

Souttar played for the Dundee United development team, including alongside his brother John in February 2015. ^[9] Having featured in a number of match day squads and having been listed as a substitute for the first team, Souttar signed a contract extension in December 2015, tying him to Dundee United until May 2018. ^[5] He made his first team debut against Partick Thistle in a Scottish Premiership match on 10 May 2016 ^[10] and scored his first senior goal against Kilmarnock four days later. ^[11]

English Premier League club Stoke City became interested in signing Souttar, and although Dundee United rejected two bids to buy the player during June 2016, ^[12] it was reported during August 2016 that the clubs had agreed an initial £200,000 fee for his transfer. ^[13]

Stoke City

Despite an agreement for Souttar's transfer to Stoke City having been reached before the end of the transfer window on 31 August, completion was delayed pending FIFA approval due to the player being under 18 years old. ^[14] He officially joined Stoke on 29 September 2016, signing a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. ^{[15] [16]} Souttar made his Stoke debut on 23 August 2017 in a 4–0 EFL Cup win over Rochdale. ^[17] After signing a new contract with Stoke, Souttar joined Scottish Premiership side Ross County on 24 January 2018 until the end of the season. ^[18] He played 13 times for the Staggies but was unable to help them avoid relegation to the Scottish Championship. ^[19]

On 30 January 2019 Souttar joined EFL League One side Fleetwood Town on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. ^[20] Souttar played 11 times for Fleetwood, scoring once against Accrington Stanley. ^[21] Souttar re-joined Fleetwood on loan for the 2019–20 season. ^[22] Souttar played regularly under Joey Barton in 2019–20 and his performances earned him the EFL Young Player of the Month award for February 2020. ^{[23] [24]} The League One season was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the table was decided via points per game which saw Fleetwood quality for the EFL League One play-offs in sixth place, where they faced Wycombe Wanderers and lost 6–3 on aggregate. ^[25]

Souttar made his league debut for Stoke City on 26 September 2020 in a 1–0 win away to Preston North End, and was named as the man of the match. ^[26] Due to a number of outstanding performances, he was named Stoke City's Player Of The Month in October. ^[27] Souttar established himself as a key member of Michael O'Neill's side in 2020–21 and he signed a new long term contract with the club in February 2021. ^[28] He scored his first goal for Stoke in a 2–0 win over Wycombe Wanderers on 6 March 2021. ^[29] Souttar made 43 appearances in 2020–21 as Stoke finished in 14th position. ^{[30] [31]} Souttar began the 2021–22 season in good form having been part of a Stoke defence that had conceded 19 goals in 17 games with the Potters fifth in the Championship before he suffered a season ending anterior cruciate ligament injury whilst playing for Australia in November 2021. ^[32] Souttar made his return a year later prior to the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. ^[33] After returning to England following the World Cup Souttar attracted bids from Premier League clubs. ^[34]

Leicester City

On 31 January 2023, Souttar joined Leicester City on a five-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee. ^[35] The fee was reported by the BBC to be £15 million which could eventually rise to £20 million with add-ons. ^[36]

International career

Souttar made his debut for the Scotland under-17 team against Romania in February 2015. ^[9] On 6 March 2019, he was called up to the Australia national under-23 team. ^[37]

On 10 October 2019, he switched allegiance and debuted for the senior Australian national team at 20 years of age in a World Cup qualifier against Nepal, and scored twice in a 5–0 win; the fourth goal was initially recorded as a Nepalese own goal, ^[38] but eventually was awarded to Souttar by FIFA. ^[39] Souttar would go on to score two more goals for Australia in a 7–1 win against Chinese Taipei in his second game for the national team. ^[40]

At 2.00 metres (6 ft 7 in), Souttar is the tallest outfield player to have represented the senior Australia national team, and the second tallest player ever, behind goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac at 2.02 metres (6 ft 8 in). ^[41]

Souttar qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. He was part of the Olyroos Olympic squad. The team beat Argentina in their first group match but were unable to win another match. They were therefore not in medal contention. ^[42]

He was named in Australia's squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in November 2022. ^[43] Souttar received significant praise for his defensive performances during the tournament. ^{[44] [45]}

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 23 December 2023

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dundee United	2015–16 [46]	Scottish Premiership	2	1	0	0	0	0	—		2	1
	2016–17 [47]	Scottish Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	1
Stoke City U23	2017–18 [48]	—			—		—		3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	3	0
	2018–19 [49]	—			—		—		3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	3	0
	Total		—		—		—		6	0	6	0
Stoke City	2017–18 [48]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	2018–19 [49]	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	2019–20 [50]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2020–21 [30]	Championship	38	1	1	0	4	0	—		43	1
	2021–22 [51]	Championship	16	0	0	0	2	1	—		18	1
	2022–23 [52]	Championship	7	0	0	0	0	0	—		7	0
	Total		61	1	1	0	8	1	—		70	2
Ross County (loan)	2017–18 [48]	Scottish Premiership	13	0	0	0	0	0	—		13	0
Fleetwood Town (loan)	2018–19 [49]	League One	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	1
	2019–20 [50]	League One	34	3	3	0	1	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	41	3
	Total		45	4	3	0	1	0	3	0	52	4
Leicester City	2022–23 [52]	Premier League	12	0	0	0	0	0	—		12	0
	2023–24 [53]	Championship	3	0	0	0	1	0	—		4	0
	Total		15	0	0	0	1	0	—		16	0
Career total			136	6	4	0	11	1	9	0	160	7

1. Appearances in EFL Trophy
2. Two appearances in League One play-offs, one appearance in EFL Trophy

International

As of match played 26 March 2024 ^[54]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Australia	2019	2	4
	2021	8	2
	2022	4	0
	2023	7	4
	2024	8	1
Total		29	11

As of match played 28 January 2024.Australia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Souttar goal. ^[54]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 October 2019	Canberra Stadium, Canberra, Australia	1	Nepal	3–0	5–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2					4–0
3	15 October 2019	National Stadium, Kaohsiung, Taiwan	2	Chinese Taipei	5–1	7–1
4					7–1
5	7 June 2021	Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	3	Chinese Taipei	1–0	5–1
6	15 June 2021		5	Jordan	1–0	1–0
7	9 September 2023	AT&T Stadium, Arlington, United States	17	Mexico	1–0	2–2	Friendly
8	18 October 2023	Gtech Community Stadium, London, United Kingdom	19	New Zealand	1–0	2–0	Soccer Ashes
9	16 November 2023	AAMI Park, Melbourne, Australia	20	Bangladesh	1–0	7–0	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	21 November 2023	Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait	21	Palestine	1–0	1–0
11	28 January 2024	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	26	Indonesia	4–0	4–0	2023 AFC Asian Cup

See also

• List of Australia international soccer players born outside Australia
• List of Scottish football families
• List of sportspeople who competed for more than one nation

References

1. "Harry Souttar: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
2. "Leicester City | Harry Souttar |".
3. "Former Brechin City youth Harry to play for Scotland U17s Euro squad". Brechin Advertiser. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
4. "Super Souttar excelling in Cod Army defence". fleetwoodtownfc.com. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
5. "Development squad – Harry Souttar". Dundee United F.C. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
6. "How Scottish roots made future Socceroos captain Harry Souttar". Code Sports. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
7. "Former Dundee United defender Harry Souttar called into Australia U/23 squad". Evening Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
8. "The incredible link between Harry Souttar and Michael O'Neill that stretches 12 years and 400 miles". Stoke Sentinel. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
9. Fisher, Stewart (25 February 2015). "Lining up with brother John suits Harry Souttar just fine". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
10. Duthie, Tom (10 May 2016). "Dundee United 3 Partick 3: United fight back to earn a point". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
11. Sutherland, Jonathan (14 May 2016). "Kilmarnock 2–4 Dundee United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
12. Duthie, Tom (24 June 2016). "Dundee United reject another Stoke bid for Harry Souttar". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
13. "Stoke set to sign Dundee United youngster Harry Souttar – Sky sources". Sky Sports. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
14. Duthie, Tom (16 September 2016). "Harry Souttar's move to Stoke still in limbo – Evening Telegraph". Evening Telegraph. Dundee. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
15. "Souttar Deal Completed". Stoke City. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
16. "Potters announce signing of teenage defender". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
17. "Stoke 4–0 Rochdale". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
18. "Harry Souttar joins the club on loan". Ross County FC. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
19. "St Johnstone 1–1 Ross County". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
20. "Souttar Heads Out". Stoke City. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
21. "Accrington 0–1 Fleetwood". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
22. "Souttar Heads Back to Highbury". Stoke City. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
23. "Fleetwood Town rising star Harry Souttar wins EFL Young Player of the Month". English Football League. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
24. Cartwright, Phil (9 March 2020). "Harry Souttar: Fleetwood Town defender wins EFL Young Player of the Month for February". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
25. "Wycombe Wanderers 2–2 Fleetwood Town". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
26. Smith, Peter (27 September 2020). "'Just ask Nick Powell' - Stoke City boss's twice-weekly headaches keep players on edge". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
27. FC, Stoke City (9 November 2020). "Stoke City FC - Souttar scoops monthly award". Stoke City FC. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
28. "Harry Souttar: Stoke City defender signs new contract". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
29. "Stoke 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers". BBC. 6 March 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
30. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
31. "AFC Bournemouth 0–2 Stoke City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
32. "Harry Souttar: Stoke City centre-back out for rest of season with knee injury". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
33. "Harry Souttar gives honest answer to Stoke City transfer question at World Cup". Stoke Sentinel. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
34. "Leicester set to ignite Stoke City transfer deadline day with big Harry Souttar bid". Stoke Sentinel. 30 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
35. "Harry completes Leicester switch". Stoke City. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
36. "Leicester City transfer news: Harry Souttar signs for £15m from Stoke". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
37. "Graham Arnold announces squad for 2020 AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers in Cambodia". socceroos.com.au. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
38. "Jamie Maclaren hits hat-trick as Socceroos stroll to win over Nepal". The Guardian. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
39. FIFA.com. "2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Qualifiers - Asia - Matches - Australia - Nepal". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
40. Jackson, Ed (16 October 2019). "Souttar at the double for Roos in Taiwan". Seven News.
41. Smithies, Tom. "World Cup qualifiers: Harry Souttar poised to become second-tallest Socceroo in clash against Kuwait". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
42. "Australian Olympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
43. "Socceroos Squad Announced: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™". Socceroos. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
44. "'Magnet in his Head'". MSN.com. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
45. "Give him the keys to the country': Australia loses it over 'Superman' Souttar's epic last-ditch tackle'". FoxSports.com.au. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
46. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
47. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
48. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
49. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
50. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
51. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
52. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
53. "Games played by Harry Souttar in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
54. Harry Souttar at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

• Profile at the Leicester City F.C. website
• Harry Souttar at Soccerbase