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Harry Souttar will be sidelined for up to a year with an Achilles tendon injury, ruling him out of the remainder of the Socceroos’ 2026 World Cup qualifiers. It’s a debilitating blow to Australian soccer on a number of levels.
First, the individual. Souttar is only three years removed from an ACL injury which also put him out of action for 12 months.
Harry Souttar will be hugely missed by the Socceroos.Credit: Getty Images
He famously recovered just in time to play at the 2022 World Cup, where he emerged from the tournament as arguably Australia’s best and most important player.
At times, he resembled a finely tuned machine in possession, and at others, he was Inspector Gadget, racing back to scramble in defence and stick out one of his go-go-gadget limbs to stifle opposition raids.
He was subsequently bought by Leicester City for the highest transfer fee ever paid for an Australian. The sky appeared the limit.
At 26, Souttar should be at or just entering his peak as a footballer. But the timing with this latest injury, suffered on Friday morning (AEDT) in a 2-0 defeat to Burnley, couldn’t be worse.
Harry Souttar has been a revelation for Sheffield United this season.Credit: Getty Images
Frozen out of action at Leicester, where he was scapegoated for their struggles before eventually being relegated from the Premier League, Souttar was sent on loan this season to Sheffield United.
The Blades are second on the ladder in the English Championship and a strong chance to secure automatic promotion to the top flight. In 22 appearances across all competitions, he has established himself as a firm fan favourite and a vital part of their starting XI – to the point where he has spoken about his hopes that the move would be made permanent in the January transfer window.
That now won’t happen; Souttar has played his last match for the club and already returned to Leicester to begin his rehabilitation.
Who knows what the future holds? But this does feel very much a potential sliding doors moment for Souttar’s career and his ambitions of playing at the highest level in club football.
Harry Souttar in action for the Socceroos.Credit: Getty Images
By the time he has fully recovered, he will be 27, with his only history in a top-five league being his 12 games for Leicester two seasons ago, which no Foxes fan will remember with much fondness, and with a concerning enough injury record that would make any other Premier League teams think twice or more before signing him. It’s a harsh business, but that’s how it works.
Which brings us to the Socceroos, who don’t have nearly enough players playing at the highest level in club football. Alessandro Circati, a regular for Parma in Serie A and one of Australia’s great young hopes, is one of the few who was. But he’s barely three months into his recovery from an ACL injury. And he’s also a centre-back.
And that means coach Tony Popovic will be without two nailed-on starters for the rest of the national team’s campaign, which resumes on March 20 against Indonesia at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, and then a trip to China five days later. Nothing short of six points from that window will suffice.
Souttar has been anchoring Popovic’s new-look back three system, playing between Melbourne Victory’s Jason Geria (a revelation since being given his first proper crack at international football) and Ipswich Town’s Cameron Burgess, the only Aussie seeing regular minutes in the Premier League. His leadership, organisation and goal threat from set pieces will not be easily replaced.
While Australia has reasonable depth in this position, there are no clear standouts for this specific role. Heart of Midlothian’s Kye Rowles is an accomplished and dependable centre-back but a left-footer who is not as well-rounded as Souttar. Hayden Matthews, the 20-year-old who Popovic handed a shock starting debut against Bahrain last month, is playing for a Sydney FC team with the third-worst defensive record in the A-League this season – better than only Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar, two historically bad teams.
Beyond them, it’s a struggle; Gianni Stensness is recovering from his second ACL injury, Milos Degenek is on the outer with his club Red Star Belgrade, and Thomas Deng is out of contract with Japanese outfit Albirex Niigata and burned the chance Popovic gave him a few months ago.
The good news is that any prospective candidates have the better part of three months to build a catalogue of form at club level and impress Popovic.
The bad news is that, with the standings in Group B so tight, there is zero margin for error. That goes for Popovic, and for whoever he selects to fill Souttar’s sizeable boots.
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