Ryan Bertrand signing a new contract is a real show of belief in the club's intent to continue to build on the foundations of the last couple of years.
Ryan Bertrand signing a new deal is great news for Saints fans, of course we are all delighted that the left back has signed a five year deal as it puts paid to speculation that next summer he might be another player we are forced to sell as they run into the final year of their contract, but it is more than that.
When Ronald Koeman left there was the worry that the likes of Fraser Forster and Virgil Van Dyke had all signed new contracts on the beck of Koeman's influence and that with the Dutchman gone they would be unsettled and perhaps open to being poached by Koeman for his new club Everton.
But Bertrand has signed this deal well after the Dutch manager has departed and this is proof that our current squad believe in what the club are trying to achieve and do not consider that its success rests on one man's influence alone.
Two years ago there was uncertainty and Mauricio Pochettino departing was a problem, now the situation is far different.
There will be those that cynically say that money talks and Ryan Bertrand has been well paid to sign a new deal, that cannot be denied, but that shows that the club is not trying to do things on the cheap, something that those cynics try to level at it when they see players sold for top dollar and replaced by two players of a lesser transfer fee, the club has a strategy and it is now in a position to do more to keep the senior players who they deem crucial to our success, every player has their price and we will continue to sell players when we have bids far beyond a players value, as was shown with Sadio Mane.
Saints strategy is long term and we are still in reality only two years into it, there will be setbacks along the way, but Ryan Bertrand's new contract is landmark in the fact that it proves that our players are now taking us very seriously and not just as a stepping stone to bigger things and if they think that, then those that join us in the future will also do the same.