Forget Dele Alli or Harry Winks.

Tottenham Hotspur need to resolve the future of Danny Rose as their top priority this January...

What's the situation?

The long-serving left-back has been frozen out in north London ever since Jose Mourinho took over from Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019.

He was initially shipped out on loan to Newcastle United for the latter part of last season, but on his return this summer, was not given a squad number and has been forced to train and play for the U23 squad.

There hasn't been any firm interest in Rose since the summer, though his former club Leeds United have been tipped to make a move. Kevin Phillips told Football Insider:

“In my opinion, a natural left-back would be on the priority list for Leeds next year.

“I imagine Leeds would look at Danny Rose. It will not be about money for him at this stage.

“He will want to play football and I am sure he would love to play in a Marcelo Bielsa side."

Waste of a wage

The 30-year-old has featured 214 times for Spurs over 13 years at the club, but appears to have already played his final game for the club barring any shock comeback in 2021.

It's thought that Rose is on around £70k-per-week in N17, which is more than the likes of Matt Doherty and Giovani Lo Celso, and is similar to that of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ben Davies, who are all contributing regularly in the first team.

Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Marlon Harewood revealed his surprise over Rose's situation, claiming that he's a "top-class player" who "can do a job."

By sitting away in the reserves, he is merely robbing Daniel Levy blind, so finding him a new club or coming to an agreement over the cancellation of his contract should be sorted before any other move next month.

This money can go straight towards funding a new signing's salary in January as Mourinho reportedly wants a centre-back as well as a box-to-box midfielder, as per Duncan Castles.

Since Spurs' first-team returned to pre-season training on July 8th, Rose has ransacked a little over £1.5m from Levy having been forced out of the senior setup and featuring just twice for the U23 squad.

Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane once labelled the Englishman "dreadful" and along with Serge Aurier, he dubbed the pair "dumb and dumber" whilst The Athletic journalist Roshane Thomas believes Rose is "on the decline" (via This Is Futbol).

He must leave the club as soon as possible.

AND in other news, Exclusive: Pundit wowed by what Dele Alli did in Spurs draw with Palace...