Socceroos defender Harry Souttar insists he wants to stay at English Championship leaders Leicester City and fight for his spot, rather than seek a January loan move for more game time.
Towering centre-back Souttar has been a fixture of the Socceroos defence since making his debut.
He earned a dream move to then Premier League club Leicester after excelling at last year's World Cup, and played 12 games.
But since the defender's January 2023 move, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers was sacked, the Foxes were relegated to the Championship and Souttar has fallen out of favour and rarely sighted.
The 25-year-old has made just one Championship appearance under Enzo Maresca and had one other start in the League Cup, but has largely been relegated to the bench.
After scoring a superb header in the Socceroos' 7-0 World Cup qualifying win over Bangladesh at AAMI Park on Thursday, Souttar addressed his club future.
"I definitely want to stay and fight for my place, for sure," he said.
"Obviously, I know it's difficult with the results we've been having.
"But I've had a good couple of conversations with the manager and he knows that whenever he needs me, I'll be 100 per cent ready.
"They're flying at the moment, top of the league, so it's hard to get in.
"But all I can do is keep my training levels up, keep my fitness levels up, and, when called upon, be ready and hopefully perform well."
Souttar will hope to earn more game time before January's Asian Cup.
In September, before Australia's friendly against Mexico, Arnold urged Souttar to use the Socceroos as his "stage" to show his coach how good he was and prove he should be playing.
That's the sort of faith Souttar is determined to repay.
"I feel fortunate that I've got the boss backing me and keeping his faith in me even though I've not been playing football. I know that," he said.
"He's been very good with me and to me in terms of starting me in games when I've not been playing club football.
"It's kind of a frustrating time but I can't really complain too much because they're top of the league and the boys are flying.
"It's just great to be back on the grass with the boys and I just love every minute of it."
