I Have Forgiven Danny Rose – Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino said he has forgiven Danny Rose for comments that criticised Tottenham Hotspur’s lack of transfer activity and cast doubt on the player’s future, and has stressed he wants the left-back to stay.

The defender gave an interview in which he said Spurs should steer clear of acquisitions that “you have to Google”, but on Friday Pochettino named several players who would not have become top-class performers if the chance to rise from relative obscurity had not occurred.

“When you sign players like Eric Dier, who nobody knew, or Dele Alli, who was in League One. I don’t think it’s a matter to joke about because with some of the international players today, maybe one or two years ago, none of us knew them very well.

“If you remember five years ago, people asked: ‘Who is Pochettino?’. They may have used Google or Chrome or Yahoo. Then they all looked straightaway to the penalty [he conceded against England for Argentina in 1998]. That killed me.”

The latter statement was a rare injection of levity during a briefing that, in a notable departure from his usual behaviour, Pochettino conducted almost entirely in Spanish with interpretation from his assistant, Jesús Pérez.

That has rarely been necessary over the past couple of seasons as his command of English has improved; Pochettino explained it away by saying he was tired but his defensive tone heightened the sense he feared adding to the uneasy situation Rose’s remarks may have exposed.

“You need to understand that he gave his opinion,” he said, when asked whether it was a problem that Tottenham players are generally not paid as much as their peers at other top-six clubs. “And then to know you need to ask every single player if they are happy or not happy. I don’t understand why I have to answer this question. The player has shown regret and apologised for what he said regarding everything.”

Rose’s public show of contrition on Friday afternoon brought forgiveness from Pochettino, the manager confirming Rose remains in his plans and saying, “The moment he apologised everyone moved on”. He would not comment on the suggestion Rose may have simply been saying what others in the squad were thinking.

“You can judge the situation,” he said. “Because if he apologised for what he said, we don’t know if he is [still] thinking the same thing or not. Him, not the team.”