Tottenham full-back Danny Rose has admitted he almost quit playing for Tottenham when Harry Redknapp was in charge.
Redknapp was in charge at Tottenham between 2008 and 2012, with Rose having joined the academy ranks at the club in 2007, a year prior to Redknapp’s arrival.
However, the 26-year-old defender has admitted he wishes current Spurs chief Mauricio Pochettino was in charge of the club back when he first made the breakthrough into the first-team setup.
Rose failed to earn a regular role in the Tottenham first-team squad until the 2011-12 campaign, having seriously contemplated his future at the club, with Redknapp seeing fit to sanction three loan moves.
But the arrival of Pochettino has seen Rose earn key player status, and the defender believes the youngsters at the club don’t realise how lucky they are to have a manager like Pochettino at the helm.
As shared in a video on the BBC Radio 5 Live official Twitter account, he said: “I’ve been at Tottenham nearly ten years now, and I sort of wish that he [Pochettino] was my manager from when I was 18, because working under Harry it was difficult, and I sort of gave up on the thought that I could play for Tottenham week-in, week-out.
“The young kids now at Tottenham, I don’t think they realise how lucky they are to have a manager like the one that we have now.
“If I were one of them, I’d be rubbing my hands together in hoping that they do get their chance to train with the first-team, that you’ll get a chance to play, and right now for a young kid it is the best time to be playing for Tottenham.”
Redknapp had instead turned to the likes of Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Gareth Bale, who began his career as a left-back, leaving Rose short of opportunities.
But Rose has since become a key figure at Tottenham, and has also become England’s first-choice left-back at international level, earning 12 England caps.
He earned 21 appearances for Pochettino’s side last season, but would have played a lot more had he not seen his season cut abruptly short through injury in February.