Leicester City: Australia manager has left Harry Souttar with only one option this summer: View | OneFootball

Leicester City centre-back Harry Souttar has endured a fairly torrid season.

He may have missed a small chunk of the campaign because of the Asia Cup, but the ex-Stoke City man would have been hoping to win far more game time than he has been able to during the 2023/24 campaign.

Managing to secure a decent amount of football during the second half of last season following his arrival from the bet365 Stadium, the fact the Foxes dropped back down to the Championship should have allowed him to play even more regularly.

But with Conor Coady coming in, Ben Nelson making the transition to senior football and the likes of Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard being a key part of the Foxes' plans this term, Souttar has found his game time limited, only making a couple of starts with one of those coming against Liverpool.

The Australian has clearly not been a beneficiary of Enzo Maresca's appointment, but he has remained committed to the Foxes and hasn't agitated to leave, at least in public anyway.

Graham Arnold's warning to Harry Souttar amid lack of game time at Leicester City

Leicester could be in the Premier League next term, which could give Souttar the opportunity to play top-flight football once again.

Some people, however, will say that he needs to leave the King Power Stadium in the summer for the sake of his career.

Those people have a case, with Australia boss Graham Arnold revealing that the 25-year-old is no longer guaranteed a place in his nation's squad due to his lack of game time back in England.

He told ftbl.com: "I know he's going through a tough time at Leicester and I had a chat with him today, and he has to fix it. This can't go on forever.

"But what we are doing at the moment is helping his career by giving him match minutes in these FIFA windows and showing what he can do.

"As I said to him today this next transfer window is going to be really crucial for him."

Harry Souttar has no option but to leave Leicester City on key condition

Unless Maresca leaves the club in the summer, something that's plausible if Leicester don't win promotion, Souttar needs to be pushing for an exit.

In fact, both parties should probably be pushing for his departure.

It seems as though significant funds will need to be raised by the Foxes before the end of June if they are to give themselves the best chance of remaining within financial limits for this season, and selling someone like Souttar could be a big financial boost for them.

But a move could be just as crucial for the player, who is 25, isn't winning much game time at his current time, is at risk of not fulfilling his potential and could even find himself kicked out of Australia's plans in the future.

A player of his quality should not be omitted from his national team, but you can understand Arnold's stance.

Souttar isn't guaranteed to leave this summer with his contract situation in mind, but he should be pushing for an exit, even if he needs to try and force it.

He may not look too professional if he does try and force an exit but no one would blame him if he does because he's getting far too little game time for a player of his quality.