Former Stoke City manager Michael O’Neill has spoken about how important defender Harry Souttar was while he was manager at the club.
O’Neill left Stoke in late August after nearly three years in charge at the Bet365 Stadium, and during his time as manager of the Potters, the Northern Irishman could argue he was missing key players.
Stoke were fifth heading into the November international break last season after O’Neill’s side had picked up 28 points from their first 17 games.
During the international break, however, defender Souttar injured his anterior cruciate ligaments while playing for Australia. This injury seems to have had an impact on Stoke’s season after the Potters only took 34 points from their next 29 games, therefore falling out of the play-off picture and finishing a disappointing 14th.
The 24-year-old suffered a setback on his road to recovery, which would mean the centre-back would not play for O’Neill again. Souttar returned from injury this pre-season and has slowly worked his way back up to full fitness, earning himself a place in Australia’s World Cup squad.
O’Neill has now been speaking about Souttar and him playing in the World Cup, he told the Courier, via Stoke On Trent Live: “I’m delighted for Harry, he’s a really good lad and a great player. He was a big player for us and when he got injured, it was a big blow.
“At the time we were sitting in a very good position in the Championship, looking like a team who could get promoted. Then we lost Harry and another player, Nick Powell. That really hurt us as a team.
“I was delighted to see he’s managed to get back and involved for Australia. He’s only played one 90 minutes which isn’t a lot, but I know the Australia coach rates and values him so hopefully he’ll do well.
“For me, Harry’s a Premier League player and he just needs time between now and the end of this season to pick up from where he left off. He had a lot of interest from Premier League clubs, prior to getting injured.”
Souttar had been out on loan at Fleetwood Town when O'Neill arrived as manager in late 2019 and his long-term future at Stoke, who he had joined three years previously but only represented briefly in the League Cup, had been up in the air.
But he came back the following summer, impressed in the Carabao Cup against Gillingham, Wolves and Aston Villa and was soon a fixture in the starting XI.
O’Neill added: “I wasn’t sure if he was going to be right for us, but we had an honest, straight-forward conversation. I told him to give it a go and if it didn’t work out, we could look at a permanent move somewhere else.
"But he took the opportunity and within a few months was signing a new contract. He made a big impact in a short space of time."
The Verdict
It is hard to put one injured player down to the fact that Stoke finished the second half of that season poorly.
However, the 24-year-old was an important player for the Potters and still is, so any team missing that presence and quality will see it as a big miss. But there were many other reasons why O’Neill’s spell as Stoke manager ended the way it did.
O’Neill was the manager who took a chance on Souttar, so therefore, when the Northern Irishman sees his former defender going to a World Cup after returning from a bad injury, he obviously feels pride and proves he was right about the defender.
The injury that Souttar has suffered may push the defender’s career back a little, but if he has a good World Cup and continues at Stoke, maybe in the summer Premier League teams will come knocking at the door.