It it set to be another summer of change for Leicester City following promotion back to the Premier League.
The club acted decisively to appoint Enzo Maresca following relegation last summer despite the Argentine having only had only one other senior manager role in his career.
The risk paid off as Maresca overhauled the playing style to one akin to the man he assisted at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, whilst storming to the Championship title.
Even with the instant return to the top flight, the lure of Chelsea proved too much and Maresca departed Leicester City to take over at Stamford Bridge following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure.
Whilst this leaves a lot of uncertainty, with a new manager yet to be appointed, it does open the door for a player who looked set to leave had Maresca stayed in charge.
Harry Souttar could now stay after Enzo Maresca exit
That player is Australia international Harry Souttar.
The 25-year-old only signed for the Foxes in January 2023, with Leicester paying Stoke City £15 million for his services.
However, Souttar was a victim of Maresca’s heavily possession-focused style of play despite being relatively comfortable at playing out from the back.
With just three Championship appearances last season and Souttar unable to secure a move away from the club in January, the defender’s Leicester career looked over as Maresca froze him out for the final few months of the season.
Maresca’s departure could mean a fresh start for Souttar, though, as he explained to ESPN whilst on international duty: “It’d be very clear if [Enzo Maresca] was still there, my situation; to try and leave the club and get more minutes because I’ve lost out on a lot of football. To still be selected for the national team I know I need to be playing football.”
The former Fleetwood Town man knows a new manager brings no guarantees of increased involvement and went on to add: “I just have to wait to see what the club does and who comes in and then to try to impress the new manager that comes in.
“When I get back for pre-season, we’ll probably have a sit down after a few weeks and have a chat and see where we’re at.
“I think that’s the best thing to do. Obviously, we don’t have a manager yet. So I don’t know and I can’t comment or speculate on who it’s going to be.
“But I’ve just got to give myself the best shot of trying to impress him and the staff that will come in as well. We’ll just go from there.”
Could Souttar make Leicester comeback?
Last season Souttar found himself behind Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes and Conor Coady in the pecking order at centre-back.
Maresca even opted to drop Wilfred Ndidi back from his usual midfield position to the heart of the defence rather than trust Souttar to play.
Maresca did not fancy Souttar as a ball-playing centre-back but he has shown both for Stoke and his country he is capable of performing such a role.
A huge presence at 6 foot 7, perhaps in some ways his height means there is a certain perception about the type of defender he is, but Souttar is not just a big lump who throws his weight around; he has a cultured side to his game too.
Souttar is loved by the Australian fans, having decided to represent the Socceroos over Scotland and has a remarkable 11 goals in 30 international appearances despite being a central defender.
He was a key part of the Australia side that qualified from their World Cup group in Qatar and was labelled a ‘beast’ on ‘X’ by A-League Senior Digital Producer Sacha Pisani for his performance in the country’s 1-0 win over Tunisia.
Souttar deserves another chance at Leicester and he could save the club a lot of money on a new defender if the incoming manager sees fit to hand him a Premier League lifeline.
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