Stoke City manager, Michael O’Neill has claimed that Tottenham and Everton’s rumoured interest in defender Harry Souttar is a positive thing for the club.
Reports emerged that the towering central defender had appeared on the radar of both Premier League sides, and each club even sent scouts to watch the Australia international in action.
Souttar has been one of the Potters’ most consistent players throughout the opening stages of the Championship, building on his breakthrough campaign last season.
The 22-year-old recently distanced himself from any transfer speculation linking him with a move away from Stoke, claiming his current focus is solely on aiming to get the side promoted to the Premier League.
Although Souttar is electing not to pay attention to a potential move up the football pyramid, Stoke boss O’Neill believes the links are positive for the club and the interest from the Premier League is a compliment.
He told the Stoke Sentinel: “Harry has had a very strong start to the season. He’s obviously playing senior international football and appears to have established himself in the Australia national team. That will obviously generate interest.
“I think that’s a positive for us as a club. We’re in a strong position. We signed these young players on long-term contracts and the idea is they would become prominent players here and hopefully help us get back to the Premier League.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“They are young players and all have ambitions to play at the top level of the game. The fact there’s interest [is a positive].”
Spurs Web Opinion
The Championship is a goldmine for young talent and a place where Premier League sides can pick up promising players for a modest value.
Second division sides are starting to clock onto the interest from above though, like Stoke and Souttar, and are likely to put up a bit more of a fight for their assets.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
