Danny Rose claims he has received assurances from Andre Villas-Boas about his Tottenham future, despite the club’s pursuit of a left-back during the summer.
Rose is likely to be first choice in the position for the rest of the year after Spurs failed to recruit Villas-Boas’s top defensive target — Real Madrid full-back Fabio Coentrao.
With Coentrao staying in Spain, Rose has the chance to establish himself after an impressive season on loan at Sunderland — and the England Under-21 international is confident he has the faith of Villas-Boas.
“I spoke to the manager about the left-back situation and he assured me that if he still wanted a change, he’d come to speak to me first, which is great,” said Rose (above). “I wasn’t looking to go anywhere just yet. I’m enjoying the run in the team and long may it continue.”
Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s departure means Kyle Naughton, who is right-footed, and centre-back Jan Vertonghen represent the only logical cover for Rose at left-back. If Rose stays fit and in good form, he has the perfect opportunity ahead of him.
Rose, 23, has been at White Hart Lane since 2007 but this is the first time he has started a season as first choice. His elevation is one of several changes to the Spurs squad, with seven new players arriving at the club following the world-record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.
Tottenham broke their transfer record on three occasions — signing Paulinho, Roberto Soldado and Erik Lamela — with the transfer of Lamela from Roma, which could eventually cost £30million, the most expensive.
The Argentina forward made his debut as a late substitute in the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal last Sunday and Rose warned that it might be some time before they see the best of Lamela.
He said: “I hope people don’t expect too much from him too soon. We have to allow him to settle. Soldado has scored four times already and Etienne Capoue has looked very solid, so neither of those two has looked out of place.
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“You look through the whole team and you see that you’ve got two strong players in each position and it’s great. We’ve got a very good squad.
“We’ve given ourselves a good platform and we’ll take it from there, although it’s too early to guess where we might finish. The aim is to finish in the top four.”
