Great things were expected from Callum Slattery as he worked his way through the Saints Academy system over the best part of a decade, but it didn’t quite work out that way for the box-to-box midfielder who admitted to basing his game on Steven Gerrard. Having joined the club as an eight-year old, he signed his first professional contract in July 2017 and, 18 months later, made his full debut in a FA Cup-tie at Derby which was closely followed by three Premier League games, but then came stagnation, later explained by not quite being as fit as the club felt he could be. Loan moves to Dutch football and then Gillingham were disrupted by lockdown and then injury and so did little to enhance his standing in the eyes of Ralph Hasenhuttl. In the summer of 2021 he consequently made a permanent switch to Motherwell, where he signed a three-year contract.

In 2015 Callum played a part in the U21 Saints team that won the Premier League Cup and then two years later was part of the England U20 squad that won the Toulon Tournament, scoring the fourth penalty in the shoot-out in the final v Ivory Coast. It was a pity that wasn’t to be the springboard to establishing himself as a Premier League player at St Mary’s.