Stoke City legend Mike Pejic is convinced Harry Souttar is a player of Champions League potential amid interest from top-flight duo Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, as he told the Stoke Sentinel.
Unless Spurs can produce more performances like Sunday’s against Aston Villa, unless the likes of Andros Townsend, Demarai Gray and Abdoulaye Doucoure can build on their early season form at Goodison Park, do not be surprised if Souttar is strutting his stuff in the Europa or even the dreaded Conference League next season.
Because, while the 6ft 6ins Australian international does have his fair share of admirers, the clubs who have been tipped to secure his signature so far are those likely to be fighting for seventh place, rather than fourth or third.
According to the Sentinel, Everton coach Duncan Ferguson has scouted Souttar this term.
David Pleat, working on behalf of Tottenham, has done so too.
While Pejic would love nothing more than to see the one-time Celtic youngster stay and turn Stoke back into an established top-flight side once again, he knows, deep down, that Souttar might have to up sticks in order to become the player he has the potential to be.
Is Harry Souttar on his way to the Premier League?
“He’s got potential to be in a top six side,” said Pejic, who played around 300 games for the Potters between 1968 and 1976.
Given that Pejic believes Souttar deserves to play at the highest level, we wonder how he would feel if the defender joins a Spurs side who finished eighth in the Premier League last season, or, indeed, an Everton side who finished tenth.
“He’s already an international player, his games for Stoke have been his base level and now he can challenge himself at the world level. Forget a mid-table team, he needs to be in the Champions League to take him to the full potential.
“If I had been in a Premier League club, I would have bid £20m this summer because who knows what it would cost to get him now. I was delighted when the transfer window shut and he was at Stoke.”
Pejic believes that Souttar has already outgrown the Championship pond, his talents wasted like a Ferrari on a school run.
“Anyone watching will see his potential. You look at his brain to start with and his mobility, the way he covers the ground. You can see in defensive situations he knows how to mark tight, when to change sides, knowing where the ball is, he’s reading the game well. And he doubles that up with his ability in possession.
“Sometimes it can be too comfortable because he’s that far ahead in the Championship. Against West Brom’s three forwards he just brushed them aside when he went into challenges as if they weren’t there. You have to say it was a champion’s performance.
“He can stroll through games and when it’s like that, if you’re not careful, you can dip because you can get away with things.
“He needs a Salah or Ronaldo against him to get that sharpness of reaction at the top end. That’s how you keep learning and push on again.”
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