Leicester City

Cooper must now sell Leicester man who earns 2x more than Dewsbury-Hall

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2024

Leicester City will be fairly confident that they can adjust back to the Premier League well after the crushing blow of relegation greeted them at the end of the 2022/23 top-flight season.

Steve Cooper does have his work cut to prove to Foxes fans that he is the right man to lead them back up to the top league, having only mustered up 11 wins from 54 Premier League games as a manager to date.

Yet, he could become an instantly more likeable figure in his new surroundings by sealing some exciting signings and clearing out the deadwood.

That even includes a Foxes star who was brought to the Midlands for an eye-watering £15m sum.

Souttar’s time at Leicester

The overpriced player in question is former Stoke City centre-back Harry Souttar, who left behind the Potters in 2023 for Leicester, hoping he could become a Premier League calibre star at the back.

This move just hasn’t worked out whatsoever for the towering Australia international though, who has ended up amassing just 16 games in total over two full campaigns now, with ex-Foxes boss Enzo Maresca handing him just three league appearances on the way to Leicester’s promotion triumph, before heading off to Chelsea.

It’s been a sharp decline for a defender who had shone up and down the EFL before this big step-up to the top flight proved too much, with his reputation taking even more of a bruising in the East Midlands by Maresca freezing him out of his starting lineups.

Cooper will look to offload the Foxes dud as a result, but this could prove to be a challenge, owing to the newly promoted side no doubt wanting to recoup some of the wild £15m they splashed out on Souttar just a year ago.

There has been interest from the likes of Rangers up in Scotland previously, who must be paying close attention to his performances for Australia over his lack of club minutes, and Leicester will snap any suitor’s hand off for wanting to sign their on-the-fringes defender, who is also on a hefty wage, according to Capology.

Souttar’s wage at Leicester

Souttar is currently on a handsome £40k-per-week pay packet at the King Power, despite only being gifted one league start over the entire Championship season that just finished.

That means he was earning double Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s wages last season, which will flabbergast those with connections to the recent second-tier title winners, considering Dewsbury-Hall’s fantastic campaign really helped the Foxes take the division by storm.

Key players earning less than Souttar
Player	Wage	Games played last season
James Justin	£30k-per-week	49
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall	£20k-per-week	45
Mads Hermansen	£10k-per-week	44
Stephy Mavididi	£10k-per-week	48
Abdul Fatawu	£9.5k-per-week	43
Sourced by Capology/Transfermarkt