Leicester City outcast Harry Souttar may regret not pushing for Rangers move after ‘costing’ Australia
Rumoured Rangers target Harry Souttar had a rather eventful first competitive appearance for club or country since May at the weekend, to say the least.
The 6ft 6in centre-back headed Australia into the lead in their friendly with Mexico in Atlanta in the early hours of Sunday [10 September], but he later went from hero to zero.
A mix-up with goalkeeper Mat Ryan saw Souttar gift Cesar Huerta a late equaliser as the sides played out an action-packed 2-2 draw.
As ESPN’s Australia correspondent Joey Lynch reflected [11 September], Souttar “ended up costing his side on the night”.
The error was down to a “lack of sharpness”, in the view of Lynch, owing to his lack of minutes in recent months.
After all, Souttar’s most recent competitive game was for Leicester City against Newcastle United in the Premier League on 22 May.
The 24-year-old has only so much as featured on the substitutes’ bench in one of Leicester’s seven matches in all competitions since they dropped out of the top flight.
Souttar has retained his place in the Australia side for now, although that could easily change as the months go on if things do not improve on the club front.
With his place in the Aussies’ starting line-up potentially under threat, the reality of the situation has surely hit home for Souttar.
Rangers boss Michael Beale is said to have made signing the former Dundee United defender his number one priority [Football Scotland].
A move did not transpire, however, for reasons that are unknown. It may have been down to a lack of funds on Rangers’ behalf; it may have been down to Leicester playing hardball; it may have been down to the player. It may have been all three.
Had Souttar pushed strongly for a move, though, you suspect Rangers would have had more luck, even if it was only on a loan arrangement.
Instead, while brother John is a regular starter at Ibrox, Harry is left counting down the days until he next gets the chance to exit Leicester.
In other Rangers news, the Gers’ early-season issues have been made clear to see by one statistic.