Ryan Bertrand

Ryan Dominic Bertrand (born 5 August 1989) is an English professional footballer who last played as a left-back for EFL Championship club Leicester City.

Bertrand began his youth career at Gillingham, before signing for Chelsea in July 2005.

Bertrand was signed by Chelsea in July 2005 from Gillingham for an initial £125,000, which was set by a tribunal and was subject to increases depending on progress.

He graduated from Chelsea's youth system and was sent on loan to various clubs between 2006 and 2010.

During the 2006–07 season, he was twice sent on loan to AFC Bournemouth, at the same time as Chelsea teammate Jack Cork.

He suffered a ruptured spleen in a youth team match against Arsenal that ruled him out of the later part of that season.

In August 2007, Bertrand joined Oldham Athletic on loan until January 2008.

On 4 January 2008, a matter of days after his spell at Oldham came to an end, Bertrand joined Norwich City on loan for the rest of the 2007–08 season.

He put in a number of impressive displays playing at both left-back and on the left wing, and admitted he would welcome a longer stay with the club.

Bertrand became popular with the Carrow Road crowd earning him the nickname 'Plastic' in reference to the Belgian singer Plastic Bertrand.

On 4 July 2008, he rejoined the club on loan until January 2009, with an option to extend to the end of the season.

On 17 July 2009, Bertrand joined Reading on a season-long loan.

He scored his first professional goal against Derby County on 10 March 2010.

He came third in the voting for Reading's player of the season, behind Gylfi Sigurðsson and Jimmy Kébé.

On 5 August 2010, Bertrand signed on loan with Championship club Nottingham Forest in an initial six-month deal.

He made his debut for Forest as a substitute in a 1–0 away defeat against Burnley.

He was a regular for Forest for whom he made a total of 19 appearances.

He made his full debut for Chelsea on in April 2011, six years after joining them, in a fixture against Birmingham City.

In the 2011–12 season, Bertrand signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea and was made understudy to Ashley Cole.

Forest were interested in either extending Bertrand's loan spell for the rest of the season or to sign him permanently but when his loan period expired on 3 January 2011 he returned to his parent club Chelsea.

Bertrand made his Premier League debut on 20 April 2011, when he came on as substitute to replace Ashley Cole in a 3–1 win against Birmingham City.

Bertrand also made a goal, providing a cross which Florent Malouda headed past Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster.

On 15 July 2011, Bertrand signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea.

He was used as a back-up to Cole by Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, as he remained with Chelsea and left-back Patrick van Aanholt went out on loan.

Six years after signing for Chelsea as a schoolboy, Bertrand made his first starting appearance, against Fulham in the League Cup.

The match finished in favour of Chelsea, who won on penalties 4–3, as the match ended goalless.

During the 2011–12 season, Bertrand played 90 minutes in Chelsea's 2–0 defeat against Liverpool in the League Cup.

He made his first league appearance of the season coming on as a late substitute for Ashley Cole against Everton, the match ended in a 2–0 defeat for Chelsea.

Bertrand was handed his first Premier League start against Wigan Athletic on 7 April, in which he produced an outstanding performance, as Chelsea won 2–1 and he was named fan's man of the match.

He was again named man of the match in his third start, a 0–0 draw with Arsenal on 21 April.

On 5 May, Bertrand won the FA Cup with Chelsea, but he did not appear on the pitch in the win against Liverpool.

In May 2012, Bertrand became the first player to make his Champions League debut in the final, starting in an unfamiliar left wing role in front of Cole; Chelsea beat Bayern Munich 4–3 on penalties.

Bertrand is an England international, having also represented 'the Young Lions' at under-17, under-18, under-19, under-20, under-21 levels, as well as Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

He made his debut for the England senior team in August 2012 in a friendly against Italy, in a 2–1 win.

Bertrand was born in Southwark, London.

He joined Gillingham aged nine, progressing through their youth system.

Bertrand attended the Robert Napier School in Gillingham, Kent.

After going on loan to Southampton in the 2014–15 season, Bertrand signed permanently for them in 2015.

During seven seasons with the club, he appeared 240 times.

In 2021, he moved to Leicester City where he played infrequently during his two seasons with the club.