Olympian Ryan Bertrand returned to his day job yesterday and was quickly back to work with the rest of the squad.
The Team GB left-back was joined by fellow London 2012 participants Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu and Daniel Sturridge as Roberto Di Matteo’s squad took another step towards completion, with new signing Oscar now the only absentee after booking a place in the final with Brazil.
Bertrand was briefly in for pre-season training in early July before reporting for Olympic duty, and is now keen to get going after one of the most memorable summers of his life.
‘It’s been a very good summer, playing in the Olympics was an amazing experience and now I’m looking forward to the season, which starts very soon,’ said the Champions League winner.
‘It was fantastic to learn from players who have had such good careers like Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy, it really was a massive learning experience and the opportunity to experience another international setup after England Under 21s.
‘Being at a home Olympics does give you that added incentive and to have so much support from all the fans around the country was fantastic.’
So, like his Spanish team-mates, it is straight back to Cobham with no break following the tournament, but Bertrand insists this is no problem at all.
‘I had my holidays after the season where it was good to unwind but now it’s good to get back to Chelsea,’ he said.
‘It’s nice to be back, and training was good. You can see the boys have been working hard on the tour, so things are looking bright for the beginning of the season. I managed to play all the games for Team GB bar one so that was good fitness-wise and I’m raring to go.’