Chelsea star was told he'd been sold when he questioned why they hadn't paid him

Ryan Bertrand came remarkably close to securing a permanent switch to Nottingham Forest from Chelsea - so close, in fact, that his wages were accidentally stopped.

Ex-England defender Bertrand started his footballing journey at Gillingham before progressing through Chelsea's youth setup. The 2012 Champions League winner went on numerous loan spells including to Forest, who were keen to make the temporary arrangement permanent in January 2011.

Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, the 35-year-old recalled a unique situation in which Chelsea had apparently agreed to Forest's offer for his signature - though he remained completely unaware of the developments. Bertrand said: "The most pivotal point was, I think I was at Nottingham Forest, a great club, had a great time there. January came and Billy Davies was the manager, and he pulled me into the office. He was like, 'Ryan are you staying? What's going on?'

"I said, 'What do you mean? and he said 'Well, we're trying to buy you this window, they're saying everything's done but we're just waiting for you.' I said to him, 'Sorry, I have no idea about any of this, nobody's spoken to me about anything, let me come back to you.' It was on a Friday, like we got a game the next day, so I just said, 'Let me get back to you.'"

He instead chose to terminate his loan spell and return to his parent club, aiming to secure a starting spot with the Blues. He said: "So I leave training, go through a few things over the next week and then made a decision. What happens in clubs is, directors come in, directors change things, directors bring players in, they want their players to play.

"So when they bring their players in, they try and push their player because if they're going to spend £2million on this player, but they've only spent £200,000 on you from Gillingham, then he's going to push this £2m player because his neck's on the line.

"That's just the reality of what you have to understand, unless you excel so, so much. But he's always going to give his player the element of doubt. I'm not going to name the man or the player I was in competition with, it was another left back at the time.

"And I remember coming back and I thought, 'No, I'm going to go back to Chelsea.' So I cancelled the loan at Nottingham Forest, I went back to Chelsea."

He added: "I was training and then the other left back was there and I was training with the first team as well. And I remember doing a warm up and I looked over - there was this director, that left-back, another player with the manager, [Carlo] Ancelotti at the time.

"And they're all laughing at the side of the pitch and I'm like over here, doing the warm up, trying to give the best account of myself. But one of my competitions [in the position] is just over there with the director laughing and joking with the manager. So, I was thinking, 'What chance are you [giving me]?'

"This is a bit off balance, but I took it as this is the director trying to push this left back in there. Okay, so that's just the nature of the beast."

Yet things got worse for Bertrand, as Chelsea's arrangement with Forest had progressed so extensively that the Blues had removed him from their payroll. He added: "I cancelled the loan, come back to the first team and at the end of that month, the funniest thing was I didn't actually get paid.

"I told my mum, said I didn't get paid. She called the club. The club said, 'Oh, sorry, we've got him down as he's left.' She was like 'No, no, he's still here.' So I don't know factually, but I think that the deal was that advanced behind my back that I was actually down as I've left the club."

Following several additional loan deals, Bertrand ultimately secured an £11.5million transfer to Southampton in 2015. During his six-year stint, he played in 152 matches for the Saints. He concluded his playing days with Leicester City, spending two seasons with the Foxes - managing just four outings - before hanging up his boots in 2023.

Throughout his 17-year career, Bertrand has had a successful run in terms of trophies, winning the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup with Chelsea, as well as an FA Community Shield with Leicester City. His standout performance came in the 2014/15 season when he was named in the PFA Team of the Year during his loan spell at Southampton.