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Charlie Wayman

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Leicester City have lined up Ryan Bertrand as replacement for Ben Chilwell, if Chilwell is snatched away by Chelsea this summer. According to Mail reports Bertrand has 18 months left on his current contract at Southampton. It is claimed that Chelsea could be interested in him as well.

 

Bertie is 30 so the question is would we offer him a new contract in the summer for 2 years or let his current contract run down and give him a free at the end of next season?

 

With no sign yet of an adequate back-up let alone a protege ready to step in in the summer it would be a supreme folly to even contemplate letting him go. Even if we were offered £8m for Bertrand it would cost us far more to bring in a decent prospect to replace him.

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Leicester City have lined up Ryan Bertrand as replacement for Ben Chilwell, if Chilwell is snatched away by Chelsea this summer. According to Mail reports Bertrand has 18 months left on his current contract at Southampton. It is claimed that Chelsea could be interested in him as well.

 

Bertie is 30 so the question is would we offer him a new contract in the summer for 2 years or let his current contract run down and give him a free at the end of next season?

 

With no sign yet of an adequate back-up let alone a protege ready to step in in the summer it would be a supreme folly to even contemplate letting him go. Even if we were offered £8m for Bertrand it would cost us far more to bring in a decent prospect to replace him.

 

He will be 31 when next season starts, we're going to have to spend money bringing in a replacement sooner or later, whether Leicester buy him or not. If he doesn't want to sign an extension I can't see that we wouldn't sell.

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Good business if we can get a decent fee for a player who is beyond his best.

 

If he won't sign a new deal then we should sell in the summer.

 

I hope, with a good Manager, that finally this coming summer can be the change we have needed for a while.

 

Good chance to get rid of the wages/generate a fee for:

 

Cedric

Yoshida

Bertrand

Elyounoussi

Forster

Hoedt

Lemina

Boufal

Romeu (possibly)

Long (possibly)

 

Gove Ralph a chance to shape a squad of his own, a year and a half into his tenure.

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Good business if we can get a decent fee for a player who is beyond his best.

 

If he won't sign a new deal then we should sell in the summer.

 

I hope, with a good Manager, that finally this coming summer can be the change we have needed for a while.

 

Good chance to get rid of the wages/generate a fee for:

 

Cedric

Yoshida

Bertrand

Elyounoussi

Forster

Hoedt

Lemina

Boufal

Romeu (possibly)

Long (possibly)

 

Gove Ralph a chance to shape a squad of his own, a year and a half into his tenure.

 

There are six players there who are current first team squad members. That would be one hell of a clear out to be replaced with a load of unknowns. The others can be discounted in my view anyway.

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Got the impression that Bertrand was probably going to leave in the Summer. If Leicester are willing to pay a fee for him then that's fine by me. He is past his best and has blown hot and cold for the last couple of seasons. Having a good spell at the moment but not exactly pulling up trees. I thought this was why Ralph was keen to get a LB in now. Shaw is not the answer, as we knew when he left, his fitness always was and remains an issue, we did well at the time getting what we did for him.

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Got the impression that Bertrand was probably going to leave in the Summer. If Leicester are willing to pay a fee for him then that's fine by me. He is past his best and has blown hot and cold for the last couple of seasons. Having a good spell at the moment but not exactly pulling up trees. I thought this was why Ralph was keen to get a LB in now. Shaw is not the answer, as we knew when he left, his fitness always was and remains an issue, we did well at the time getting what we did for him.

you what?

He was excellent when he left/under pochettino!

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If we get to summer, and Bertrand says he wants to stay with us until the end of his career, then fine, keep him. He's an experienced head to play while Vokins develops (or another young LB is brought in to one day replace Ryan). If he wants out though, I wouldn't be too concerned, as long as the money is right. Leicester will probably want him as cut price as he's in his early 30's, but £15-£20 million should be looked at. He's been a decent servant and one of our best left backs ever but we're a team that looks to younger players to come in. The doubt about letting him go is, of course, the ability for SFC to buy a left back to adequately replace him.

 

It's a hell no until the summer though, whatever happens.

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I would sell him if we can sign a better left-back. I don’t think we would.

 

I rate him and would rather extend his contract.

 

I don't think you're taking into account the crucial part of whether Bertrand would want to extend his contract. Given he's 31 this in August, the rumours about wanting to go for a while now and the fact he's been driving up and down from London since joining, this summer may be the best time to thank him for the service and wish him luck.

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I like Bertrand. But he will have been with us for six years in the summer. That's much longer than we can expect from any player of real quality nowadays so wouldn't begrudge him a last move. Although I don't see him fancying Leicester. He looks more like a West Ham signing to me.

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He will be 31 when next season starts, we're going to have to spend money bringing in a replacement sooner or later, whether Leicester buy him or not. If he doesn't want to sign an extension I can't see that we wouldn't sell.

 

The age thing is certainly a worry especially with Ralph's high energy style of play. Doubt Bertrand could keep up in a year or two.

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I don't think you're taking into account the crucial part of whether Bertrand would want to extend his contract. Given he's 31 this in August, the rumours about wanting to go for a while now and the fact he's been driving up and down from London since joining, this summer may be the best time to thank him for the service and wish him luck.

 

I used to drive to London and back every day in my fifties. Cobham to Soton and back for a 30 year old in a supercar would be part of a great day out for him. Anyway he probably stops off on the way to check out his property portfolio.

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I used to drive to London and back every day in my fifties. Cobham to Soton and back for a 30 year old in a supercar would be part of a great day out for him. Anyway he probably stops off on the way to check out his property portfolio.

 

I live close to J3 of the M3 amd regularly drive down to the Hythe area, generally takes me an hour and 15 mins.

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I like Bertrand. But he will have been with us for six years in the summer. That's much longer than we can expect from any player of real quality nowadays so wouldn't begrudge him a last move. Although I don't see him fancying Leicester. He looks more like a West Ham signing to me.

 

Leicester will be in the Champions league next season, West Ham are in a relegation battle. Dunno maybe

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People underestimate just what a good fullback he is. Ok, so he can't go on for ever, but with his build and athleticism, you'd hope he could still ge up and down at 33. I'd add a year to his current deal right now without blinking. We have a lot of holes in the squad, not least a second left back. Do we really want to be looking for two? If we had money to burn and a decent scouting network and transfer committee then looking to upgrade to a younger model would make sense. We don't.

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I live close to J3 of the M3 amd regularly drive down to the Hythe area, generally takes me an hour and 15 mins.

 

pretty standard commute these days for the average person. With training not starting until 10??? he can probably miss the worst of the traffic. Might even have a flat in Soton for weekdays etc? He's been here 6 years. The commute is not an issue and wont affect his decision to stay here.

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Good business if we can get a decent fee for a player who is beyond his best.

 

If he won't sign a new deal then we should sell in the summer.

 

I hope, with a good Manager, that finally this coming summer can be the change we have needed for a while.

 

Good chance to get rid of the wages/generate a fee for:

 

Cedric

Yoshida

Bertrand

Elyounoussi

Forster

Hoedt

Lemina

Boufal

Romeu (possibly)

Long (possibly)

 

Gove Ralph a chance to shape a squad of his own, a year and a half into his tenure.

 

or you could get rid of most/all of those, except Bertrand, still be able reshape the squad, AND have a top class left back already capable of playing how Ralf wants.

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