Leicester City transfer link to Nottingham Forest star spells bad news for Harry Souttar | OneFootball

Leicester City suffered defeat at the hands of Coventry City in their last outing.

The Foxes remain clear at the top of the Championship table though and have a must-see clash with second-placed Ipswich Town coming on Monday night.

Amid this Leicester City success, Harry Souttar is one player to have been watching on from the sidelines for the majority.

As Enzo Maresca’s side join the pursuit of Joe Worrall, Souttar could be set to slip further down the pecking order.

Joe Worrall was already considered to be in the Nottingham Forest shop window and this will be exacerbated following the news of their financial rule breaking.

Throughout the month of January, there have been a number of clubs linked with the centre-back and the two at the fore currently are West Ham United and Leicester City.

This duo have been “monitoring” Worrall, according to The Athletic, but Nuno Espirito Santo’s arrival at the helm changes the situation slightly.

It was under former boss Steve Cooper that the Forest captain fell out of favour, before his successor then started Worrall in the FA Cup third-round clash against Blackpool. He partnered the highly rated young Brazilian Murillo at the City Ground.

West Ham are currently without Nayef Aguerd as he competes for Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations, and with gaps in their squad across the board, a move for Worrall makes plenty of sense.

Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, has a solid pairing of Jannik Vestergaard and Wout Faes, but doesn’t seem keen to rest on his laurels.

If Leicester do land the defender, then one of their players who will be most concerned is the already troubled Souttar.

Harry Souttar’s Leicester future

Leicester’s £15m capture of Harry Souttar set a record for the highest fee paid for an Australian international, overtaking Aaron Mooy’s transfer to Huddersfield Town in 2017.

Souttar made 12 appearances in the Premier League as the Foxes were relegated, totalling 991 minutes.

Making that step up from Stoke City hasn’t gone as smoothly as he would have first hoped though, with just four outings to his name thus far in 2023/24. He has played thrice in the Championship as well as in the EFL Cup defeat at Anfield back in September.

When discussing Souttar’s playing time a month ago, Maresca had the following to say, via KeepUp.com: “He had the chance against Liverpool, and he had the chance against Stoke. He played well.

“At the same time, Wout (Faes) is doing well, Jannik (Vestergaard) is doing well, Conor (Coady) is another guy… What can we say about Conor? He’s fantastic. For me, he’s an important player, even if he’s not playing.”

The Italian is full of praise for Souttar, but the competition for places in his squad is supremely fierce.

Callum Doyle (20) and Ben Nelson (19) joined Coady on the bench for the defeat to Coventry City, with the Australian away at the Asian Cup, showing just how much depth the 2015/16 Premier League champions currently boast.

Leicester’s interest in Worrall isn’t for the Forest man to occupy the bench either, and so Souttar’s position at the club is becoming all the more clear.

Transfer links to Saudi Arabia have become all the more understandable, with Italian journalist Rudy Galetti reporting that Al Nassr are interested in the 25-year-old, a deal that would seemingly make sense for all parties, offering Souttar out of a club where he's clearly not in the picture and Leicester a chance to offload a squad player at a time they are chasing Worrall.