Monaco, Arsenal and Milan are competing to sign Southampton left-back Ryan Bertrand following the break in contract negotiations.
The two sides did not come to an agreement
With his contract set expiring in the summer, the Premier League parties and the two European giants have begun negotiations to take advantage of the 31-year-old’s expiring deal. Manchester City is known to have made contact as well. The Saints turned down an offer from Arsenal during the January transfer window, as there was hope that a new contract would be reached, but manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admits the two sides did not come to an agreement. Ralph, ahead of his side’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool over the weekend, said they were looking at other goals because the offer they made was not accepted by him. When there is no decision for the future, you will have to look at other options in this position.
What will happen in the future?
Southampton will look for replacements as Ryan evaluates his next move, Ralph said. His exit could have been followed by star man Danny Ings, whose contract expires in June 2022, leaving St Mary’s a potential last chance to cash in on the striker. The 28-year-old wants a contract that breaks the pay structure on the South Coast and has a stake in the likes of Spurs in a future transfer. Arsenal would most likely use Bertrand as a fallback for Kieran Tierney, which is highly regarded in the Emirates. However, the Scotsman’s injury record could see Bertrand given a lot of playing time.
Mikel Arteta has been forced to use Granit Xhaka as a left-back in recent weeks away from his usual central midfield spot. The Gunners also poached Southampton’s Cedric Soares in January 2020 on a cut-price deal when his contract expired. Likewise, Manchester City will likely rotate Bertrand and increase their own quota as they aim to spend most of their transfer budget on a single famous striker like Borussia Dortmunds Erling Haaland. They’ll also likely have to create space by releasing one of their current full-fledged spinoffs, but that could represent good business. Milan has already had success in signing players from the English market after being loaned this season from Man Utd and Cheslea Diogo Dalot and Fikayo Tomori respectively. Meanwhile, the Monaco pursuit is led by sporting director Paul Mitchell, a well-traveled Englishman brought in from RB Leipzig.