Former Spurs and England goalkeeper Paul Robinson has backed Newcastle to sign Danny Rose in the summer over Jetro Willems.
While speaking to Football Insider, Robinson said that he thinks the club are only likely to go after one of the two left-backs – a decision which could be crushing to Dutch defender on loan from Frankfurt.
Rose joined on a six-month loan deal in January after he was not being picked by Jose Mourinho, who took over Mauricio Pochettino as the Spurs boss back in November.
The decision came to bring Rose in after Willems – who was signed in the summer transfer window – suffered a season-ending cruciate ligament injury, leaving the club short in the left-back position.
Robinson said to the outlet: “I think Danny Rose is in pole position at the moment,”
“It depends on whether Willems can get back fit. He was doing well before he got injured, got a couple of decent goals and was playing regularly. Then Danny Rose came in which did not bode well for him. It is up in the air when the season finishes and how long this break is going to be.
“A decision will be made but I suspect it will be one or the other. Steve Bruce will not take both. However, if the Danny Rose deal is not concluded the deal for Willems becomes possible.”
If you looked at the season without having any prior knowledge on the two players, the chances are that you would want to keep Willems, as he was performing extremely well before his injury came along.
In fact, he was actually a key threat for the side going forward, and despite only playing 19 out of the 29 games this season due to that injury, he still has the second-highest amount of goal contributions to the club in the Premier League. He has scored twice and assisted twice, with his four goal contributions only being topped by Jonjo Shelvey, who has bagged on five separate occasions.
Nevertheless, based on what Bruce has told the media, it seems as if his first-choice would definitely be Rose, even if the defender hasn’t been in the greatest form since he joined, something which he has admitted himself.
Bruce told the Chronicle that the player was what you call “stick on quality”, before adding that his quality is “what we need”.
So based on those quotes, it’s hard to disagree with Robinson’s statement, though it must feel Willems feeling really hard done by considering what he added to the club before Rose came long.