MANAGER Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted he did not know whether Ryan Bertrand had played his final game for Saints and added: “When there is no solution for the future, then we will have to look for other options.”
The 31-year-old full-back sees his contract expire at St Mary’s in the summer and is yet to sign a new deal at the club.
Bertrand has been at Saints since 2014 and has chalked up 240 appearances for the south coast side.
He is currently out of action with a calf problem which has kept him out of Hasenhuttl’s past two squads.
Asked whether there was a possibility Bertrand had played his last game for the club, the Austrian manager replied: “I don’t know. Hopefully not, but we don’t know it.”
In an interview with the Daily Echo back in December, Bertrand insisted: “It would be great to be part of this club for the long haul.”
But asked now whether there would be a deadline for the defender to commit to signing a new deal, Hasenhuttl said: “We are still paying attention to other targets.
“That’s normal because the offer we have made has not been accepted from his side.
“Finally, when there is no solution for the future then we will have to look for other options we have in the future.”
The defender is still set to miss out through injury when Saints make the trip to face Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday.
Quizzed on whether Bertrand would play again this campaign, Hasenhuttl replied: “I don't know. He is struggling. We will see. He is not in the sessions at the moment.”
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