JOHN Souttar lost count of the amount of times he was told he lacked the physicality to be a top-level centre-half. Too small; not aggressive enough; tries to play too much football – they were all regular refrains as he made his first steps in the senior game at Dundee United, where he lost his way prior to joining Hearts in January 2016.

How Souttar must have longed for a day when a Premiership manager would describe him as a “big lump”.

That moment came after Hearts secured a 2-1 triumph over Kilmarnock little more than a fortnight ago, with Steve Clarke bemoaning the task of finding a way past Souttar, Conor Shaughnessy and Christophe Berra.

“I’d have bitten your hand off for that when I was younger, being called that,” Souttar said with a smile. “It was a back-handed compliment and no offence was taken.”

Informed of Souttar’s reaction, Hearts boss Craig Levein quipped: “Now if I can just get someone to say Christophe [Berra] is like Becken­bauer, we’ll have good balance.”

While a throwaway remark, Clarke’s words vindicate the work Souttar has put in to return to action at the peak of his powers. After a gruelling rehabilitation from a hip injury sustained in October, he barely seems to have missed a step.

It appears that the temporary pain of missing out on January’s sunshine training camp in Spain will prove worthwhile in the long run.

As his team-mates put in the graft in 25-degree temperatures, Souttar was enduring tedious fitness sessions in baltic Edinburgh.

“You always want to go to Spain!” he said. “But, in terms in football, the right thing to do was to stay here and get my work done. The winter break was ideal for me this year, in terms of not missing as many games as I probably would have.

“It worked out well because I could work when the boys were off – and do a mini pre-season with them when I was coming back.

“I was in most days with Mikey Williams, who works as a sports scientist here. He did a lot of work with me. And Craig Maitland, the physio, was here as well. They were working on me a lot and working me hard and I came back match fit.

“Uche [Ikechukwu] was in as well … although I wished it was empty when the big man was here!”

Having cruised through encounters against St Johnstone, Kilmarnock, Livingston and Auchinleck Talbot since his comeback – he was Hearts’ most potent attacking threat in the 0-0 draw against Livi – Souttar should be a shoo-in to take his place in the next Scotland squad.

It was on international duty where he suffered the tear to his hip lining, ruling him out of games against Portugal, Albania and Israel as the year drew to a close.

However, he is still at the forefront of the coaching staff’s thoughts ahead of next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and San Marino.

“The staff have all phoned me,” he said. “Peter Grant [assistant manager] and the gaffer [Alex McLeish] and James McFadden [coach] all texted and phoned me when I got injured. They were really supportive and that meant a lot.

“I’d be delighted if I could get back involved in that. There’s a lot of football for Hearts before then so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing for Hearts and see what happens.

“It’s a really young squad at the moment. There’s experience there but it’s the youngest squad we’ve had for a while. It feels like there’s a lot of good players coming through, which can only be good for Scottish football in general.”

While Souttar’s return to fitness has been a fillip for Levein, the build-up for today’s trip to Motherwell has been interrupted by two high-profile injuries to Demi Mitchell and

Michael Smith, with both men likely to be sidelined for more than two months.

But, after losing Berra, Souttar, Ikpeazu and Steven Naismith to injuries this season, Levein has a sharp sense of perspective and is adamant his squad is now in far better shape to handle the absences.

“I wish I had no injuries, but I feel better about it,” he said. “Although we’ve got a couple of little things going on just now, we’ll get Marcus [Godinho] back in, Clevid [Dik­amona] can come back in. Conor Shaughnessy can come back in, Bobby Burns can play and Jake Mulraney can come in. Up front now, [Aidan] Keena’s scoring, [David] Vanecek scored for the reserve side, so I feel better about having injuries.”