Man City want Southampton left-back Bertrand to solve crisis

Bengaluru, November 4: Manchester city manager Pep Guardiola is eyeing a January swoop for Southampton full-back Ryan Bertrand.

The England full-back has been watched by City scouts on a number of occasions over the past two seasons.

Guardiola is a huge fan of the 28-year-old, and is desperate to land another left-back with Benjamin Mendy expected to be out for the entire campaign.

He had looked at bringing in Napoli ace Faouzi Ghoulam, who is out of contract at the end of this season. But the Algerian has been ruled out for months with cruciate knee ligament damage.

Regardless, the Serie A giants are adamant they will not accept a fee for him in the next transfer window, and are refusing to sell.

City are now looking at other options, with Bertrand top of the list despite his £30million asking price being a possible sticking point.

A source said: “Ryan Bertrand is back on the radar of City with Napoli refusing to budge on Ghoulam at present.

“Bertrand is a player City have ran the rule over before, but his transfer fee could be an issue, it all depends on what they ask for again.

“His homegrown status is also attractive. The issue they have is Benjamin Mendy is expected to be out for the season.

“He is another possible reason why City might have to hold off on Sanchez in January, as they don’t have the money to do that deal and also strengthen the defence.”

Bertrand joined Southampton from Chelsea for £10m back in 2015 after a season-long loan spell, and has made 79 Premier League appearances for the club and has become one of the best players in his position.

Despite the fact Manchester City need a left-back to cope with the injury to Mendy, Fabian Delph has done a brilliant job in that role despite being a midfielder by trade and Guardiola could very well wait till the next summer if Southampton do not accept a reasonable fee.