Premier League rules allow for the registration of a maximum of 17 non-homegrown players, and while Chelsea are comfortably under that limit at the moment, adding more homegrown players should always be a priority, especially with the likes of John Terry and Asmir Begović (and perhaps Cesc Fàbregas) all possibly leaving this summer.
In that vein, here’s a rumor from the Evening Standard’s Simon Johnson, claiming that Chelsea want to bring Ryan Bertrand back, a few seasons after letting him leave on a permanent transfer to Southampton.
Ryan Bertrand has been added to list of #Cfc's summer targets: https://t.co/gay6THdKeD
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) March 31, 2017
Bertrand, who certainly has not regretted leaving Chelsea after nine loan spells — but has also always spoken highly of the club itself — has gone from strength to strength since his move to the South Coast, working his way into the England national team as well and featuring at Euro 2016. While at Chelsea, Bertrand had always shown himself to be a capable backup, but he’s grown well above any such limited expectations at Saints. In fact, according to the report, he’s also on Manchester City’s shortlist for this summer!
The cost to buy back Bertrand would apparently cost us a fairly standard £25m, or more than twice what we sold him for. But as an option to give some actual competition for Marcos Alonso at the left wing-back position, Bertrand would tick a lot of boxes. Whether he’d be keen on the whole thing is another question entirely, but as far as a potential transfer, it’s a solid plan.