United could have ‘ruined’ Souttar, says Hearts boss
● Playing young defender out of position made him easy target for critics – Levein
Hearts manager Craig Levein has accused Dundee United of almost destroying John Souttar’s football career and believes that the youngster is only now beginning to salvage a reputation that had been tarnished during a turbulent spell at Tannadice.
The 21-year-old recently earned his first full Scotland caps, performing well against some of the world’s best players as Alex Mcleish’s men faced Belgium in a friendly and he then strolled through the first Nations League group match against Albania, maintaining the form he has been showing all season at club level.
That has led some observers to reassess their view of the young defender, who has taken on the Tynecastle captaincy in the wake of a long-term injury to his centre-back partner Christophe Berra and risen to the challenge on the pitch, with the capital club unbeaten in all competitions this season.
With Souttar as an everpresent, they can boast a fivegame 100 per cent record in the Premiership, and are sitting pretty with a five-point lead at the top of the league table.
The fact that Souttar has helped them keep six clean sheets, despite the defensive reshuffling going on around him, was a factor in help midfield. ing him graduate from the Under-21 squad for Scotland’s recent double header.
But club boss Levein says there was a danger that may not have happened if he had not quit his former club United for Hearts in February 2016, insisting the fact he was being asked to play in several different positions, in a side struggling for form and low in confidence, was hindering his progress.
“He has always been a centre-half. I’m not being disrespectful but they nearly ruined his career.
“Right back, left back, centre It’s quite confusing for a young player when you are being moved into three or four different places and noone has got your back or is giving you the support you need.
“I’m talking disparagingly but United sold all their best players and he was left behind and he became an easy target.
“And it says everything about him that he has taken himself from that position where people thought he was one thing and moved up to someone who I think will be a mainstay for the Scotland national team for a long time.”
Having come through the
youth ranks, Souttar signed his first professional contract at United in December 2012, under Levein’s successor and former assistant Peter Houston, and made his first-team debut a couple of months later. But the latter stages of his career at the Tayside club were dogged by disappointing results and managerial
upheavalas cost-cutting measures forced Jackie Mcnamara and then Mixu Paatelainen to sell off some of their main assets and the young defender was used to plug gaps in defence and midfield, which Levein says hampered his own development.
But he has rediscovered that early promise since joining
Hearts, enjoying a settled position and earning from experienced team-mates and long-time internationals Berra and Aaron Hughes. Now, in the absence of both, he has proved he is capable of stepping up and proving his critics wrong.
When John Souttar lined up to earn his first full international cap earlier this month, there were few in Scotland prouder than his Hearts manager and long-time advocate, Craig Levein.
It is a level the former Scotland boss always believed the young defender was capable of attaining, having watched him as a youngster in Dundee. He had already left his managerial position at Dundee United for the national team by the time Souttar was able to sign professional forms, but he has always kept a close eye on his career and stepped in to salvage it when a frustrating period at Tannadice threatened to derail his potential.
Levein believes that the current form of the 21-yearold, and the way in which he stepped up to the challenges posed by internationalfootball,haveallowed him to force feed some of his detractors humble pie.
“I’m thrilled for John Souttar and his family. I’ve known John since he was 12 years old at Dundee United and his dad just sent me a picture of me coaching John at Dundee United with the caption ‘where have the years gone?’ I was thinking that myself.
“But because of my close relationship with John and how well I get on with his mum and dad, I might not be as proud as they are [to see him earn his first two Scotland caps] but I’m quite a bit down that road.
“The way his career developed and then had gone off the rails a little bit, people had pigeon-holed him. That’s what we do in Scottish football. People said he wasn’t tough enough to be a centre-half.
“I have said previously that playing as a young centreback in the league is a difficult thing to do. John was playing at 16/17 at Dundee United and was exceptional. I came here at 19 from Cowdenbeath and couldn’t win a header for two years because of the quality and the strength of the senior players I was up against. So, for me, with John it was just about patience until he physically developed.
“I mean, he got booked against Albania for as clean a header as you will ever see. It was a terrible decision. But my point is things people said John can’t do, he is doing them every week now. And one of the biggest compliments I can pay him is you wouldn’t know our captain and possibly our best player isn’t playing.”
Souttar has stepped up to cover for injured Christophe Berra, pictured, not only wearing the armband on match days but also assuming responsibility as he and new partner Jimmy Dunne have combined to offer the side a solid defensive foundationonwhichtobuildtheir100 per cent start to the league season and five-point gap at the top of the Premiership table.
That domestic form, com- bined with injuries to other rearguard options prompted Alex Mcleish to give the Hearts player a run-out in the recent double-header, against Belgium and Albania. The performances in both games forced the national boss to reassess his opinion of a player he had believed lacked the aggression to hold his own at
the elite level. “A lot of people in Scottish football formed an opinion of John Souttar three years ago and that came from [his time at] Dundee United,” said Levein, who accused the Tannadice club of almost wrecking his career and stunting his development by playing him in several different positions and hanging him out to dry when times were tough.
“I think it dogged him for two or three years and it has taken him a few years of playing regular football – obviously he was out injured for a while as well – to prove he can gain the strength and aggression to play at the highest level.
“Interestingly, when you get to international football the aggression and physicality comes back down a level compared to the game here at club level. Here we play teams who throw the ball in on top of
our centre-backs from the first minute to the last minute. But that doesn’t happen in international football. It’s more about what is going on in your head and understanding that it’s a different type of football. I am thrilled for John and his family about where he has managed to get to.”
Having made the breakthrough, Levein now believes Souttar could be a mainstay in the Scotland side. “If John and [the currently injured Aberdeen defender, Scott] Mckenna could form a partnership, then in four years’ time we could have a really exciting central defensive pairing.
“Once you get to 25 as a centre-back, then it becomes easier for you. But it’s a good position to be in. I don’t know Mckenna as well as I know John, but he looks to be a top, top player, so it’s good news.”
PATIENT APPROACH
“With John, it was just about patience until he physically developed. Things people said John can’t do, he is doing every week now.”
CRAIG LEVEIN