Southampton: New Bertrand contract planned to thwart Leicester interest

Southampton plan to hand experienced defender Ryan Bertrand a new contract to thwart interest in him from Leicester City.

This news comes from a report from the Times who say that the Foxes want to bring in Bertrand to replace current left-back Ben Chilwell, who is increasingly likely to join Chelsea.

The price tag that Saints have on Bertrand’s head is unclear but it has been reported that he and Oriol Romeu are in discussions about new deals to keep them at St Mary’s.

It is well-known that Ralph Hasenhuttl wants to be able to work with younger players with great potential on the South Coast. 30-year-old Bertrand is not in this category anymore.

However, his leadership qualities and experience – both of which are sometimes forgotten when fans look from the outside – cannot be underestimated.

His age is perhaps one reason why Leicester may choose to pursue other targets too.

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Replacing a 23-year-old in Ben Chilwell with someone seven years his senior would not make much sense – especially if Brendan Rodgers wants to build for a sustained future at the top of the Premier League.

Bertrand may not be first-choice for the long-term with Saints considering he is well past the peak of his career now, but current circumstances mean that the club will want to hold onto the assets that have.

Saints made a £34m loss during the 2018/19 campaign and will have been hit fairly hard by the Coronavirus pandemic cutting off many revenue streams for clubs recently.

There is also still a lot of money tied up in transfers that they have done in the past – a host of players out on loan currently look to have no future on the South Coast and Saints will want to sell them permanently, if possible, to reinvest.

Whilst recovery is taking place, it is obviously vital that the club retain at least the squad they have at the moment for Ralph Hasenhuttl to work with.

A move for Groningen right-back Deyovaisio Zeefuik has been heavily reported in the press recently, but movements other than this may well be limited.