- Souttar is desperate to play first-team football
- Leicester manager poached by Chelsea
- click here to follow the Mail Sport Euro 2024 WhatsApp channel for all the latest news and updates from Germany
The Socceroos have made Harry Souttar the face of the Australian team despite the defender’s recent form problems and struggles to find a club.
Souttar has starred in a new commercial for Subway as the Socceroos defender admits his club’s future is uncertain as Leicester City look for a new manager.
Souttar and teammates Adam Taggart and Joe Gauci appear in a commercial for Subway that launches on Tuesday.
In the ad, Gauci kicks a ball from the stands to Souttar, who controls the ball and passes it to Taggart for a shot on goal, while a groundskeeper gets caught up in the moment and begins to comment on the action.
It’s fitting that Souttar was chosen for the role after his ‘Souttar Sub’ order went viral last year.
Harry Souttar (photo) admits that his club future is uncertain at Leicester City
“Chicken fillet, ham, a little onion, cheese and onion chips sprinkled on top, ketchup, three cookies and a Pepsi Max,” Souttar told his surprised teammates at the time.
Meanwhile, the towering Socceroo admits that the future of his club is bleak Leicester city looking for a new manager Enzo Maresca‘s departure before Chelsea.
Souttar would almost certainly leave Leicester after being part of the squad in the Foxes’ English championship-winning season under Maresca.
But with the Italian manager poached by Chelsea and the big centre-back still having four years left on his contract at Leicester, Souttar’s future appears to be up in the air and could depend on who the Foxes hire as Maresca’s replacement .
“I don’t have a manager on club land at the moment,” Souttar said on Sunday in Perth, as the Socceroos prepare for Tuesday night’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Palestine at HBF Park.
‘They (Leicester) have yet to make a decision on that… but we will cross that bridge (over his future) when we get there, when we go back to preparation (training).”
Souttar said that regardless of which club he played for next season, it was imperative that he returned to regular first-team football if he was to maintain his place in the Socceroos’ top XI.
“It’s really quite simple: I just need to get back to playing football,” said the 25-year-old Scottish-born Socceroo, who was also sidelined for much of 2022 after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
The giant defender has four years left on his contract with Leicester
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has told Souttar he needs to ‘get his club career in order’
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has told Souttar he needs to ‘get his club career in order’.
“After his cruciate ligament injury and this year, two big years without football, he has hardly played,” said Arnold, who admitted that Souttar might have been better off if Maresca had stayed at Leicester in terms of greater clarity over his future.
‘If the manager had stayed it would probably have been clearer what Souttar’s decision could have been, but with the arrival of a new manager it could be completely different.’
Souttar is not confident of starting against Palestine after playing the whole match in the Socceroos’ 2-0 win over Bangladesh in Dhaka last Thursday.
Arnold has hinted that up to nine changes could be made to the Australian starting squad as part of a pre-planned squad rotation.
There is a strong possibility that Cameron Burgess and Alessandro Circati will form the Socceroos’ central defensive partnership on Tuesday night after neither was used against Bangladesh.
“There are guys all over the field competing for positions,” Souttar said.
‘Every day during training the level is raised and everyone wants to play.
“We’re all friends, but everyone is fighting for that jersey.”