John Souttar was a reported target for Derby County in January and Hearts’ Scottish Premiership leader is in the gossip columns again.
Hearts are the surprise leaders of the Scottish Premiership right now but their title challenge could be derailed if John Souttar leaves Tynecastle in January.
According to the Scottish Sun, Wigan Athletic are keen on signing Souttar in the January transfer window, having failed in an attempt to bring him to the DW Stadium over the summer.
But Wigan are not the only Championship club who have been linked with the 22-year-old. The Daily Star (29 December, page 48) reported that Derby County were keen to bring Souttar to Pride Park and were going to test Hearts’ resolve with a £1 million bid.
Given how impressive Souttar has been since, helping Hearts to the top of the league while establishing himself in the Scotland squad, the former Dundee United man is probably worth a lot more than £1 million now.
But should Derby make a move again? Well, Frank Lampard’s side have certainly put an emphasis on signing youngsters in recent months, with Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori, Jack Marriott, Harry Wilson and Duane Holmes arriving over the summer.
And there is space in Derby’s squad for a promising young centre-back with Tomori only on loan from Chelsea, Alex Pearce out of favour and Richard Keogh and Curtis Davies both the wrong side of 30.
So Souttar fits the bill.
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