RYAN Bertrand has strongly dismissed claims of a rift in the Saints camp and addressed question marks over his future at the club by insisting he’s not thinking about a move away.

Stories were rife in the press earlier this week that St Mary’s chief Claude Puel had lost the dressing room, with Bertrand and Nathan Redmond said to have fallen out with the Frenchman.

It led to claims that left-back Bertrand was seeking a move away, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City monitoring his situation.

But the England international insists “there have been no bust-ups” and that it has “never really crossed my mind to start thinking about football elsewhere”.

“There’s nothing to make a story out of,” he said. “There have been no bust-ups.

“The training ground is fairly open ... there’s been nothing.”

“From the outside looking in you’d think [there was a crisis],” he continued. “There’s this news and that news, but, if you come away from that, we’re sitting 9th, we’ve been in a cup final and we can increase on where we are at the moment.

“We’ve got all to play for and come the end of the season we’ll be sitting here saying what a great season it has been.”

The 27-year-old, who signed a new five year contract last July, takes it as a compliment to be linked with a switch to one of the Premier League’s leading clubs, but stated that he’s happy and not thinking about life away from St Mary’s.

“As long as my football’s consistent and I’m enjoying it there’s no real need to start thinking about your future,” he said.

“I’m happy, my family is happy, so it’s never really crossed my mind to start thinking about football elsewhere.”

“You can take that as a compliment to be honest, but I don’t really get carried away about what’s written in the papers and that too much,” he added, referring to the speculation.

“It’s important to focus on my game and you know that will come. If you’re playing consistently well in the Premier League and internationally, you’ll naturally be linked to various teams.”

Newspaper gossip is not something that Bertrand takes notice of.

“I learnt from a young age to stop reading so much tabloid stuff and just focus on my game,” he said.

“Naturally it’s nice to get that recognition and I suppose that will come if you play consistently in the Premier League and internationally.

“But I learnt a long time ago not to get carried away with anything.”

Contrary to reports of unrest in the Saints camp with Puel’s management of the team, Bertrand couldn’t have been more supportive of his under pressure boss.

The former Chelsea man believes Puel has had to manage huge expectations after Saints’ record breaking 6th place finish last term under his predecessor Ronald Koeman.

“It’s been a full on season and it’s hard to come to your first job in English football, to follow what we’ve done last year and to cope with the demands of all the games,” he said. “But I think he [Puel] has come in and done really well.

“If you step back and look at it, we’ve been in a cup final, were on the edge of history there, and we’re still in contention to finish in a respectable position in the Premier League.

“I guess those frustrations come when you have a bad result against a team you’re expected to beat and that comes with the success we’ve had – the expectation to go out and continuously deliver.

“So when that doesn’t come it’s natural for the fans to be a bit upset.”