Sheffield United should be all over transfer deal for Leicester City outcast this summer: View | OneFootball

Sheffield United are preparing for life in the Championship and the answer to their defensive problems could lie with Premier League newcomers Leicester City.

The Blades' return to the top flight ended disastrously last season as they finished rock bottom with just 16 points and conceded a Premier League record 104 goals in 38 matches.

Chris Wilder is expected to overhaul his squad and shoring up the defence will be high on the list of his priorities. To that extent, the Blades could do worse than take a look at Leicester outcast Harry Souttar, whose fall from grace at the King Power Stadium remains puzzling.

Enzo Maresca froze Harry Souttar out at Leicester

The Scotland-born defender made a name for himself at Stoke City and established himself as a regular for Australia, who he is eligible to represent through his mother, after making his international debut in 2019.

Souttar was a revelation at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, helping Australia to keep clean sheets in the wins against Denmark and Tunisia as the Socceroos reached the knockout stage for only the second time in their history.

Defeat against eventual world champions Argentina in the Round of 16 did little to dissuade potential suitors, with Leicester winning the race to Souttar's signature by agreeing a £15m deal with Stoke in January 2023.

The 25-year-old started each of his 11 appearances for the Foxes in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign under Brendan Rodgers but found himself on the bench in six of the last nine games of the season after the Northern Irishman was sacked and replaced by Dean Smith.

Leicester's relegation at the end of the season meant a third manager in six months for Souttar, who was frozen out by Enzo Maresca last season and fell behind Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, Conor Coady, and Ben Nelson in the pecking order.

Despite playing just 188 minutes of football across four appearances in all competitions for Leicester, Souttar has remained a regular for Australia, winning 10 caps for the Socceroos this past season.

Maresca has since moved down south to take charge of Chelsea and while Souttar will want to impress the Foxes' new boss, the ongoing managerial uncertainty does no favours to Souttar and is hardly ideal for a player who had very little football on the clock last term.

Why Harry Souttar would fit Sheffield United

With the Australian under contract until the end of the 2027-28 season, Leicester may not be minded to part ways with him yet, but a loan deal should interest a number of Championship clubs.

And while Souttar may not have fitted Maresca's possession-based approach, the Socceroos star is the sort of uncompromising, no-nonsense defender who could fit seamlessly in Wilder's plans. While not the fastest among centre-backs, Souttar reads the game well and his good sense of positioning makes it difficult for opponents to exploit his lack of pace.

Crucially, he's also a threat at set pieces, as the 10 goals he's scored for Australia prove. Conversely, Sheffield United scored just six goals from dead-ball situations last season, the third-worst return in the Premier League after Crystal Palace and Burnley.

Souttar, who made 61 appearances in the Championship for Stoke City, could be a ready-made replacement for Anel Ahmedhodzic, who could be set to leave Bramall Lane this summer.

According to The Mirror, the Blades value the Bosnia international at £20m, and he has attracted interest from Chelsea and Europa League winners Atalanta.

Fellow Serie A club Napoli are also keeping tabs on the defender, whom they were first linked with in January, while Ahmedhodzic has admitted he would love to play for Manchester City in the future.

Cashing in on Ahmedhodzic for £20m would allow the Blades to turn a sizeable profit on a player they signed for just £4m from Swedish giants Malmö two years ago.

Harry Souttar must play regularly next season

Souttar also needs to be playing regularly next season, or risks losing his spot in Australia's squad, as Socceroos manager Graham Arnold reminded him this week.

"Once he gets back to the UK after this camp, he really has to sort out his club career because it's been, after his ACL injury and this year, two big years out of football he's hardly played," he told the Australian Associated Press on Thursday.

"And it's a very important time in his playing career around your mid-20s that you learn and you mature and you get stronger and it gets you through into the 30s. So it's an important year coming up for Harry."

It remains to be seen who will replace Maresca and whether Souttar will get a chance at the King Power under the new boss but if his position in the pecking order remains the same,

a move to Bramall Lane this summer would suit both the player and club.