Ryan Bertrand: The day I arrived at Southampton, I knew we could do good things Family has always been important to Bertrand, a kid raised on a tough estate in south-east London by a single mother holding down two jobs at a time to make ends meet. At the weekend, she would drive Bertrand all over the borough to take him to matches. I'd play every day if I could. I used to play every weekend, three times for three different clubs. I got in trouble once at school. A teacher asked me what I wanted to be, and I said, "A footballer." I think he took it the wrong way. But it wasn't out of disrespect, as if I didn't need education. I think he wanted me to go on Countdown or something, I dunno. After beginning his career at Gillingham, Chelsea signed him in 2005, when he was 15. A series of unglamorous loan spells followed: Bournemouth, Oldham, Norwich City, Reading, Nottingham Forest. But he learned lessons along the way. "I've been fortunate," he says. The clubs that I've been on loan to have been real family-orientated clubs. Right down to the old kit men that have been there for 100 years, to the tea and dinner ladies. All the little principles that make a club what it is. I'd just turned 18 and I was in a three-bed semi up in Oldham. My own house, I shared it with a footballer called Neil Kilkenny, who used to play for Birmingham a few years back. I was cooking for myself: pasta and chicken for me every night. Each time Bertrand would go back to Chelsea, try to force his way into the first team, find a certain Ashley Cole blocking his path, and then go out on loan again. Did Chelsea ever get in touch while he was wheeling away in the provinces? Bertrand pauses before answering. "It's better now," he says diplomatically. They've got Eddie Newton, who relays on a regular basis. But back then it was new to them. Me and the likes of Jack Cork and Scott Sinclair were the first generation of young players starting to go out on loan. It was a learning curve for everyone. When Roberto Di Matteo was appointed as manager in March 2012, it seemed fleetingly as though the cycle might be broken. Di Matteo liked Bertrand a lot, giving him his first Premier League start. Then, in May, he became the first player in history to make his Champions League debut in the final, playing in Chelsea's famous win over Bayern Munich. Finally, Bertrand's career appeared on the verge of lift-off. He signed a new five-year contract and enjoyed a run in the side. Then Di Matteo was sacked. I was used to it, to be honest! Bertrand says with a mixture of incredulity and world‑weariness. Not in a bad way, but we'd had a lot of managers, so it was back to square one again. It's harder for the young players when a new coach comes in, when you hadn't played the 300-400 games that other players had. Did he ever doubt his own ability to cut it at the highest level? Yeah, definitely. I'm not being big-headed, but I think I have the capabilities, and in my head I should have been there [in the first team]. But that didn't materialise. After another successful loan spell at Aston Villa this year, Bertrand returned to Chelsea in an optimistic frame of mind. Cole was on his way out and the left-back spot was seemingly up for grabs. But over the summer, it became increasingly clear that he was not part of Jose Mourinho's first-team plans. "I came back and approached pre-season as normal, working hard, but strange things happen," Bertrand says cryptically. Things happen for a reason. I've never been one to just sit there on the bench for no reason, and I had good options to go and play elsewhere. So he went to Southampton, where under Koeman's empowering regime, he is enjoying his football as never before. I put this idea to him: Bertrand has played under some intense, impassioned managers like Mourinho, or Brendan Rodgers at Reading. But it appears to be the more laid-back types - Di Matteo or Koeman, for example - that he responds to best. "Yeah, definitely," he says. Ask a number of players, and they'll say the same thing. It's not necessarily a laid-back style. Those guys that you mentioned, they've been players at the top level. Di Matteo and Koeman, Carlo Ancelotti. They're not "relaxed" as in they're off the pedal - don't get me wrong, if you step out of line, they'll be ready to tell you straight. But they understand players a bit better, having been there. And at the age of 25, Bertrand is finally beginning to understand himself a bit better. Both he and Southampton are keen to make his loan permanent, and after almost a decade at Chelsea, he is beginning to realise that perhaps they were never quite meant to be. Footballers, like anyone else, are engaged in a constant search for belonging. The early evidence would suggest that Bertrand may have found his. Ryan Bertrand was speaking at the launch of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. www.callofduty.com