Bertrand heads down to Carrow Road

Ryan Bertrand after spending later half of the last season on loan at Norwich will be heading down to Carrow Road again this season. The loan deal is initially for 6 months with a possibility of turning it into a season long deal. Ryan was one of Norwich’s better players last season and Glen Roeder, the Norwich gaffer having been impressed by the exploits of the young left back jumped at the first opportunity to sign him.

Ryan came to Chelsea in 2005 from Gillingham and since then he has made considerable progress at the club. He went on loan in his second season with the club having made the step up from youth to the reserves. His first destination was Bournemouth in League 1 but his spell was unfortunately cut short by injury. Last season the club loaned him to Oldham Athletic as part of the deal which saw Daniel Philliskirk signing for our youth team. He really came to the fore at Boundary Park under the tutelage of John Sheridan, the Oldham manager. His exploits caught the eye of a number of clubs in the country and after the completion of his loan term he joined Norwich in January.

His spell at Norwich proved to be a highly productive one as he put in some excellent performances and became a regular starter for the team from East Anglia. He started in a total of 18 games for Norwich last season and in many of them he played on the left wing rather than his preferred left-back position. He faced competition at the left-back and left-wing spots from Mo Camara (on loan from Derby) and Kieran Gibbs(on loan from Arsenal) and he was able to dislodge both of them relatively easily which told a lot about his ability and versatility. This season he would be facing competition for the left-back spot from the veteran defender Adam Drury who missed out on most of the last season after suffering from a ligament injury. It would be interesting to see who is preferred by Roeder for the left-back position but with Ryan’s verstatility I am sure he would be able to find himself a place in starting XI one way or the other.

Ryan was eagerly chased by many clubs this summer. Glen Roeder termed his signing as a massive coup when he revelead that Reading were desperate to sign him and clubs like Derby, Watford and promoted Hull City were also interested in him. Last year has been an excellent one for Ryan’s development and certainly the role of John Sheridan and Glen Roeder, the managers of Oldham and Norwich respectively can’t be disputed. Breaking into the Chelsea’s first team is not an easy task these days with an array of international superstars on the club’s books but Ryan is certainly someone to look for in the future. He is still young at 19 and from what he has shown till now he certainly has a great career ahead of him. He has also been a regular in the England U17 and U19s and would be heading down to Czech Republic this July for the European Championships. Here’s hoping that he does well in Czech Republic and in his loan spell at Norwich.