Tottenham confirm departure of Danny Rose, Paulo Gazzaniga on free transfers

Eleven years ago, Danny Rose made his Premier League debut as a 19-year old starter for Tottenham Hotspur in a home North London Derby against Arsenal.

And did this.

Danny had his ups and downs throughout his Tottenham Hotspur career — from a loan to Sunderland that was a precursor to his likely being sold to becoming one of the best left backs in England under Mauricio Pochettino. He aired his frustrations with the club in a blockbuster (and highly controversial) interview in The Sun, and was exiled to the U23s and not given a first team number under Jose Mourinho.

And now he’s gone. Tottenham Hotspur announced today that Danny Rose and keeper Paulo Gazzaniga have departed the club at the conclusion of their contracts.

This post is going to basically overlook Paulo Gazzaniga. That’s probably unfair, but while “Gazinga” had some good moments for Spurs replacing an injured Hugo Lloris (and is incredibly handsome), he spent the year on loan at Elche this season and simply did not have the same level of impact on the club in toto as Danny did. Thanks for your service, Paulo. But we’re talking about Danny now.

I have always loved Danny Rose. His thumping goal against Arsenal, one which will go down in history as one of the great Tottenham goals of all time, was also one of the first truly great Tottenham moments that seared itself into my brain in my nascent Spurs fandom. Over the years he has provided some wonderful moments that I will continue to cherish — from being photographed drinking a Heineken and grabbing his crotch after the Miracle of Amsterdam, to going to watch Premier League Darts every season and holding up some truly exceptional fan-servicey signs for the cameras. There was even the amazing anecdote about Rose jumping out of the back of a van in front of cameras the day Mourinho was sacked, grinning, and asking reporters what they were doing there. Legend.

(That tweet posted above is part of a thread that everyone should absolutely read in full.)

Yes, Danny pissed off a lot of people. He was outspoken, sometimes unwisely so. He was exceptionally brave and didn’t really give a crap about what people thought of him, which allowed him to openly talk about racism, like being racially abused by Serbian fans while with the England U21 squad, and also mental health issues which went a long way towards destigmatizing a huge issue in sport. He also wasn’t afraid to speak his mind even if he got in trouble for it — the aforementioned interview in The Sun which criticized the club ownership over things like transfers and the then-current wage policy ruffled a lot of feathers and earned Rose a lot of scorn from certain segments of the Spurs fanbase, even though he was 100% correct in his views.

But he also loved his teammates and was a good player. Yes, in the past couple of years he fell away as he started to lose a step physically, but he never deserved to be marginalized like how Jose Mourinho marginalized him. To his credit, he was true to his word about seeing off the terms of his contract, put his head down, and trained and played with the U23s all season long, despite the ignominy of not receiving a first team number this season. That fact wasn’t lost on the young players currently in Tottenham’s academy. Here’s youngster Elliot Thorpe.

I don’t know what Rose’s future is going forward. He’s 30 years old now. He’s talked about wanting to “play up north” at or near his hometown of Doncaster before his career is done. Who knows — a Premier League or Championship club may take a chance on a free transfer for a hugely experienced former England international left back in the near future. I’ll be following his career closely and hope he’s able to end it positively and on his terms.

What I do know is that Danny Rose has always been and will continue to be one of my all time favorite Tottenham Hotspur players, and while this day has been coming for a long time I’m still sad it’s here. And I’ll miss him greatly.

Godspeed, Danny. Thank you for everything, and COYS.