Harry Souttar will be sidelined for up to a year with an Achilles tendon injury, ruling him out of the remainder of the Socceroos’ 2026 World Cup qualifiers. It’s a debilitating blow to Australian soccer on a number of levels.

First, the individual. Souttar is only three years removed from an ACL injury which also put him out of action for 12 months.

Harry Souttar will be hugely missed by the Socceroos.Credit: Getty Images

He famously recovered just in time to play at the 2022 World Cup, where he emerged from the tournament as arguably Australia’s best and most important player.

At times, he resembled a finely tuned machine in possession, and at others, he was Inspector Gadget, racing back to scramble in defence and stick out one of his go-go-gadget limbs to stifle opposition raids.

He was subsequently bought by Leicester City for the highest transfer fee ever paid for an Australian. The sky appeared the limit.

At 26, Souttar should be at or just entering his peak as a footballer. But the timing of this latest injury, suffered on Friday morning (AEDT) in a 2-0 defeat to Burnley, couldn’t be worse.

Harry Souttar........

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