Sam McQueen was a bit of a rarity in the 21st century as he was one of the few Southampton-born players who made it all the way to play on the Premier League stage for his local team. He joined the academy aged 8 and, by the time he was part of the U21 side that lifted the Premier League Cup in 2015, he had already made his first-team debut in a FA Cup-tie at the Stadium of Light.

Originally a forward,by the time he made his bow in the Premier League in October 2016 he had converted to the wing-back role, but found it hard to get regular football owing to the presence of Ryan Bertrand and Matt Targett. Because of an injury crisis, however, he did get to play in three European fixtures during the 2016-17 campaign including a highly praised display in the San Siro (see scrapbook section), but in the summer of 2018 it was decided to gain more experience at Championship club, Middlesbrough. It was while at the Riverside in October 2018 he sustained a serious knee injury which was then compounded when the knee reconstruction became infected on more than one occasion during his rehabilitation. By the time his contract expired in the summer of 2021 he still hadn’t kicked a ball in anger for Ralph Hasenhuttl who had arrived shortly after the initial injury. It was a sad end to a versatile and promising player who was good enough to represent England U21s, especially with the imminent departure of Bertrand and Targett’s move to Aston Villa, the previous season, there would have been a further opportunity for him to establish himself.

The club did offer him a short-term contract in the summer of 2021 in one last attempt to see if he could regain full fitness, but on New Year’s Day came his final announcement that he had retired from football.