AVB says Danny Rose will stay

If there was ever any question about Danny Rose's status on this year's Tottenham Hotspur squad, Andre Villas-Boas answered it in an interview today. Buried at the end of Guardian staff-written article about how Gareth Bale is NOT, in fact, heading to Real Madrid this summer are a few quotes from AVB about Rose and his place on the team.

"Danny has had an excellent season. He's one of the players that we all want for our future...

It was one of those occasions where it's all worked out extremely well for him and he will definitely be part of our squad this season...

Credit to him for making it work. This year he'll want to be involved with Tottenham and hopefully he'll have a big future ahead of him."

A left winger/left back, Rose has had a rather rocky relationship with Spurs the past several seasons, as he's been firmly ensconced behind an in-form Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Gareth Bale on the left side, and he has not minced words about wanting to get more playing time. Last season he had a highly successful loan with Sunderland, where he was a fan favorite at the Stadium of Light and considered one of the best players on the side. Nevertheless it's been implied that Rose preferred a permanent move to Sunderland or another EPL club if he was not in Spurs' plans for the future.

With Assou-Ekotto coming off of an injury-ravaged, sub-par season, this may be Rose's best chance to establish himself in the starting lineup for Tottenham. Villas-Boas' quotes seem to indicate that he's noticed what Danny did with the Black Cats last season, and he recognizes Rose's talent. While on his day Assou-Ekotto is one of the better LBs in the Premier League, the positional battle between Rose and Assou-Ekotto could be one of the more intriguing ones of the new season.

Rose, of course, is most known for "that goal" against Arsenal in 2010 on his Premier League debut, and we clearly can't have a post about him without linking to that video, so here's a link to a kitty astonished by that goal. D'awwwwww.