Socceroos hero Harry Souttar reveals why he refused to swap shirts with anyone at World Cup

Harry Souttar has returned to the winter league grind as one of England’s most coveted targets after his World Cup exploits, revealing the only downside to playing in the competition and why he refused to swap shirts with nobody.

The Stoke City central defender returned to England as one of the most talked about ‘discoveries’ on the world stage after some monumental performances helped Australia exceed expectations by reaching the round of 16.

Harry Souttar has returned to the winter league grind as one of England’s most coveted targets after his World Cup exploits, revealing the only downside to playing in the competition and why he refused to swap shirts with nobody.

The Stoke City central defender returned to England as one of the most talked about ‘discoveries’ on the world stage after some monumental performances helped Australia exceed expectations by reaching the round of 16.

But before returning to contention in England’s second division championship at the weekend when he helped Stoke to a valuable point in a 2-2 draw with Cardiff, Souttar reflected on how his life has changed since his duels with players. Like Kylian Mbappe. and Lionel Messi in Qatar.

“There’s been a bit of noise,” Souttar shrugged in an interview with his local station, BBC Radio Stoke.

‘That’s for other people to talk about. I will concentrate on the job at hand. He was only focused on soccer before the tournament, and I didn’t pay much attention to it.

“All my concentration now is on Stoke City,” he said of his team, who have a battle on their hands as they sit 18th of 24 in the Championship.

The 24-year-old colossus reflected on how much he had ‘loved every minute of the whole experience’, suggesting there was just one pitfall of the Socceroos spending more time in Qatar than anyone had a right to expect.

The 24-year-old colossus reflected on how much he had ‘enjoyed every minute of the whole experience’, suggesting there was just one pitfall of the Socceroos spending more time in Qatar than anyone had a right to expect.

‘The only downside was that I came home to find that all the milk in the fridge had gone bad!’ he said.

Souttar believed that the exciting round of 16 match against Argentina would remain in his memory forever.

‘Messi is the best player who has ever played in my opinion. It was so hard to defend against him,’ he said.

While some of his teammates were looking to swap shirts with opposition players, Souttar (pictured with Australian goalkeeper Mat Ryan) decided to keep his own after some helpful motherly advice. “I didn’t exchange jerseys with anyone, as it was my first World Cup,” he said.

“We played well, but sometimes that’s what the best players in the world do: they win games with a little bit of magic.”

“But I will look back on years to come and realize how grateful I am to have played against him.”

While some of his teammates were seeking jersey swaps with opposition players, Souttar decided to stick with his own after some helpful motherly advice.

“I didn’t exchange jerseys with anyone, as it was my first World Cup,” he said. ‘So I’ve kept all my tops.

“My mom always told me, ‘I don’t want to see you swapping shirts with anyone.'”