Size doesn’t often go hand in hand with speed so you’d be forgiven for assuming a 6ft 6in Stoke City centre-back has all the mobility of a reversing dump truck.
Harry Souttar, however, is far more agile than you’d expect from a man who makes Andy Carroll look like Ronnie Corbett. And former Potters skipper Ryan Shawcross thinks the rangy Australia international has added another string to his bow in recent months.
“(Souttar) has been terrific since he came back from the Olympics but he was terrific last season too. He’s a real star of the team now,” Shawcross wrote last week in his column for the Stoke Sentinel.
“You can get to a point when you just expect Harry to sort it out. He’s only one defender – but what a defender. He’s got everything and he’s evolving into a modern-day centre-back – good on the ball, good in the air.
“I’ve noticed he’s looking a bit quicker too, seeming to have that extra little dash to make a last-ditch tackle. He’s one of the best in the Championship.”
Stoke City giant Harry Souttar could be just the man Tottenham need
How much longer Souttar stays in the Championship, however, is anyone’s guess.
According to The Sentinel, Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur and Everton have sent scouts to watch a man who joined Stoke from Dundee for a bargain £200,000.
The Sun believes Souttar could succeed want-away Yerry Mina at Goodison Park, the former Barcelona youngster setting his sights on a dream move to Serie A in 2022.
Burnley have also been linked, having already snapped up Nathan Collins from the Potters.
But if you’re assuming Souttar would come cheap, think again.
The giant defender only recently signed a new long-term contract, as reported by the BBC, and Stoke will know Souttar, brilliant in the air and more than comfortable with the ball at his feet, is exactly the sort of young, technically gifted centre-half Premier League clubs tend to fall in love with.
And if a turn of pace was the one thing missing from his game, it seems that issue has been overcome.
Here’s what some Stoke City fans on Twitter had to say about the reported interest by Tottenham in Souttar:
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