Socceroos hero Harry Souttar had a disastrous start to his Premier League career, but bounced back to help his new club to victory.
The 24-year-old towering defender was last week snapped up by Leicester City from Stoke, with a reported $26 million transfer fee – a record for Australian players.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers wasted no time putting the 2022 World Cup star to work, bringing Souttar straight into the starting line-up as the club aims to avoid relegation.
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But with the score locked at 1-1 during the first half of the game against Aston Villa, an Ollie Watkins strike deflected off the leg of Souttar and into the back of the net.
The Aussie looked shattered at the own-goal which put the opposition ahead 2-1.
But Souttar shook off the devastating moment and played a pivotal role in Leicester City clawing back to win 4-2 – the club’s first league victory hsince November.
“He was unfortunate with the own goal, but he recovered and kept going,” Rodgers said of Souttar.
“Big Harry’s a presence, but he can also play football – anybody who saw him at the World Cup, he was outstanding there.
“So for him to come in, having only just joined the club, and into a real tough away game, up against [Villa striker Ollie] Watkins, who’s a really good player, I thought he did really well.”
Souttar was the breakout star of Australia’s World Cup campaign late last year, where the Socceroos won two games at the tournament for the first time.
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