Leicester City boss sends Sheffield United transfer warning over Harry Souttar after future admission
Chris Wilder remains determined to bring Harry Souttar back to Bramall Lane, but Leicester City boss Russell Martin admits it will take "something very big" to prise the Australian international away this summer after the Blades' latest bid was rejected.
Sheffield United have been warned it will take “something very big” to prise Harry Souttar away from Leicester City after their latest bid for the Australian international was rejected. United are keen to land two new centre-halves before September 1’s transfer deadline.
The hope is that one of them can still be former loan man Souttar, who had a successful spell at Bramall Lane two seasons ago and could be sold this summer to raise funds after they dropped into League One.
But the deal is complicated by Leicester’s £10m valuation of the 27-year-old while Leicester have been rocked by the blow of losing Ben Nelson for most of the season after he suffered an ACL injury.
That led to concerns that Souttar may be labelled ‘not for sale’ this summer but speaking at his last press conference before the start of the season tomorrow, Leicester boss Russell Martin admitted that is not the case.
“I think any player in any club in the world is for sale at any point, if it’s for the right money," Martin said. “I can’t come out here and say: ‘Harry is definitely not for sale’.
"If it was my choice, he wouldn’t be, even if someone came in with an astronomical amount of money, but I’m not the money man. So for me, he’ll be here. He’s happy to be here. He’s trained fantastically well.
"He’s everything I thought he would be in terms of a professional, honest, hard-working, vocal, puts his body on the line, even in training - he’s been amazing.
"I think it would take something very big for him to leave here, and if it was right for the club and for him, then it means that someone’s paid an awful lot of money to get the man that they want. Right now, it’s so far away from that, it’s not even a discussion.
"That’s why everyone can be quite calm about it, including Harry. He’s not come to me once and said he wants to leave. I think he’s very happy and he understands that playing this way can be really good for him. So as long as he’s happy, I’m happy and everyone’s happy, we’re good."
Souttar will make his first appearance of the competitive season tomorrow when he captains the Leicester side that takes on Northampton Town in the EFL Cup. “He captains his country, he’s played at the World Cup,” said Martin, explaining the decision.
“He’s been brilliant in pre-season since he’s been back, so he’ll captain the team tomorrow and then we’ll assess everything during the rest of the transfer window. I did the same at Southampton; James Ward-Prowse captained the team in the first game and then didn’t play for us again.
“So I think we have to be open and flexible with it, but tomorrow, Harry will be captain. I think he deserves to be. He’s a real leader, and then we’ll assess it as and when it goes.”