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Southampton continue rebuilding job with Bertrand loan

Ryan Bertrand won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2012 © Getty Images

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Southampton have continued to rebuild their depleted squad after signing Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand on a season-long loan.

Champions League winner Bertrand, 24, replaces Luke Shaw, who joined Manchester United this summer and is one of five players to leave St Mary's along with manager Mauricio Pochettino in what has become a growing exodus.

"For me personally, this is another chance to play and a chance to join a fantastic club that's moving in the right direction," Bertrand, who was on loan at Aston Villa last season, told Southampton's official website. "With the set-up the club's got, the manager [Ronald Koeman] it has coming in and the ethos it has, I thought this was a perfect match.

"The manager's name speaks for itself, so to play under somebody like that will be good for me. His ethos and the way he plays matches my game.

"I had a lot of options and a lot of interest but, having met the people and spoken to the manager and seen what the club is about, in my mind this was the perfect decision."

Having accrued nearly £100 million in player sales this summer, Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger has vowed that the club will replace their departed stars and insisted that Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez will not be allowed to join Pochettino at Tottenham.

Bertrand becomes Southampton's third summer signing, following the additions of Eredivisie pair Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle.

"I'm very happy to be able to bring Ryan in," manager Ronald Koeman added.

"I spoke to him on Monday afternoon and I was very impressed with his attitude and how keen he was to play games for Southampton. He is a top player who will bring a lot of quality to the team. He has experience at the highest level and is an exciting, attacking player, which is what I like to see in my full-backs.

"Left-back is an important position in the team because it is quite specialised in terms of the attributes needed to play there, so it is nice to get this signing completed because it gives us some stability."

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