Stoke City's worst fears have been realised as Harry Souttar has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign.

Aside from the season opener against Reading, the 23-year-old started in all of Stoke's 16 Championship matches this season and has formed a crucial part of Michael O'Neill's back three.

Following his emergence into the Potters first-team last season, Souttar began to earn recognition from Australia's national team and he headed off for international duty this past week and lined-up for the Socceroos against Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

However it ended in disaster as deep into the second half Souttar went down in a heap when not near anyone and had to be stretchered from the pitch, with Australia manager Graham Arnold confirming post-match that it was a knee injury the colossal defender suffered.

The scans have come back and it's the worst possible news for Stoke as Souttar has suffered damage to his right ACL and will not take part in the rest of the campaign and surgery will be needed in the near future to correct the problem.

The Verdict

This is both horrific luck for Stoke and Souttar but also horrific timing as well - especially when you consider the transfer rumours that have been going around recently.

Premier League clubs have been flocking to scout the Aussie and his performances have been very impressive and Stoke could have made a handsome bit of money in January.

That will no longer be the case though and Stoke fans must be thinking when their luck is going to change after Tyrese Campbell suffered a similar issue last season.

Fingers crossed that Souttar comes back as the same player in probably nine months time as it's a tough one to recover from.