Premier League: Newly-promoted Watford sign defender Danny Rose from Tottenham on free transfer

London: Watford have confirmed the signing of defender Danny Rose on a two-year deal following his departure from Tottenham. Left-back Rose, 30, was released at the end of his Spurs contract, having spent last season training with the club’s under-23s. The Hornets secured an immediate return to the Premier League after finishing second in the Championship last season. Rose moved to Spurs in 2007 and went on to make 241 appearances, being a key part of Mauricio Pochettino’s team that challenged for honours and reached the Champions League final in 2019. However, the experienced defender, who won 29 England caps, found himself out of favour under Jose Mourinho and spent the second half of the 2019-20 season on loan at Newcastle. After vowing to allow his sizeable contract at Spurs to run down, Rose found himself banished to the under-23s set-up and was not even registered in the club’s Premier League squad last season.

“I used to play here against Watford for Tottenham and the fans once the place is rocking are different gravy!”

🎬 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 🎬

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) June 16, 2021

“I wish we could have won something together but the club are not far away from that and obviously I wish everybody at the club the best of luck going forward,” Rose said on the official Tottenham website on his departure. “It’s going to be strange if and when I join a new team because I’m going to be taking a different route to training, but I’m grateful to the club for bringing me in 2007 as a 17-year-old and I feel very privileged to have experienced some of Tottenham’s great days.”