Ryan Bertrand was signed for#125,000 by Chelsea in the summer of 2005 from Gillingham and took part of the Chelsea youth system until 2006 when he took a part of the team that toured America in the pre-season.
Ever since he has been loaned out to seven different teams such as Bournemouth, Norwich City, Aston Villa, Reading, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, and most recently Southampton. From 2011 to 2014 he stayed at Chelsea to become Ashley Cole’s successor as a left back.
Under Roberto Di Matteo he made his Champions League debut in the final vs Bayern Munich, but when Jose Mourinho arrived everything changed for the young English fullback since Mourinho decided to play Cesar Azpilicueta at left back over both him and Ashley Cole.
He then went on loan to Aston Villa where he struggled to find form and he is now on loan with Southampton, a team who was impressed everyone by being in second place despite having sold the core of the team in this past transfer window.
So far this season Bertrand has playing out of his skin with the Saints. He has successfully replaced Luke Shaw, a man who is currently struggling to find form with Manchester United, by being part of the starting lineup since his first game and by helping the Saints defence keep the amount of goals conceded to a minimum in the past nine premier league games. Five goals conceded and five clean sheets in nine games is impressive considering his parent club has conceded nine so far and kept only three clean sheets. Bertrand has also contributed to the attack by both scoring(1) and assisting(1).
At St. Mary’s Bertrand may have found a permanent solution to his problem regarding playtime. So far he has played 810 minutes of a possible 810 and now that he is 25 he might not have a chance to start at Chelsea, especially with Filipe Luis and Cesar Azpilicueta both deputizing their trade at Stamford Bridge. The English defender recently told Sky Sportsregarding his situation at Southampton.
It is one of them things where I’ve got to wait and see, but, for me, there’s no reason why not, to be honest, there is a good base to the club, we’re pulling in the right direction.
“We have fantastic fans, fantastic players, a fantastic manager and the coaching staff. It has been a good experience for me so far so I don’t see why not. For me, it is a first in many aspects, especially with the consistency of football I’m getting. I am pleased with the way it has started but you know there is a lot more work to be done. As a team we’re only going to get better, individually I am only going to improve.”
Later on the Saints manager, the Daily Mail quoted Ronald Koeman, stating that he likes Bertrand and if possible would like to keep him at the club.
If we have the money, yes. If its up to me, yes. Maybe it’s too early to talk about that, but I am very happy until now with the performance of Ryan.
“Ryan got the opportunity (at Southampton) to play every weekend what he missed in Chelsea, he’s still a young player and the best way to develop yourself is playing every weekend.”
Only time will tell whether or not Bertrand will remain at Southampton come next season, but I know many Chelsea fans would be glad for Bertrand since he will finally get playing time and that Bertrand will be glad with the Saints as long as he continues getting playtime and begins getting called up for England again.
