Tottenham defender Danny Rose refutes Pochettino bust-up and admits fitness reality check

Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose has not fallen out with manager Mauricio Pochettino despite his north London derby snub and has reiterated his commitment to the club for the rest of the season amid renewed interest from Manchester United.

Left-back Rose has made three starts and two substitute appearances across all competitions since returning from a nine-month knee injury lay-off against Real Madrid in mid-October, but was left out of the matchday squad altogether for Saturday's (18 November) 2-0 defeat to rivals Arsenal and instead trained at Enfield despite completing almost the entirety of a win over Crystal Palace before the international break.

Such an omission - coupled with his previous comments regarding Tottenham's transfer policy and wage structure during a controversial newspaper interview - led to whispers that the England international may have endured a bust-up with his manager, although Pochettino insisted there was no issue and that he needed to continue building his match fitness.

Rose returned to the starting 11 in the Champions League on Tuesday night and featured for the full 90 minutes as Spurs sealed top spot in Group H with a game to spare courtesy of a comeback win over Borussia Dortmund.

After the victory, Pochettino praised both the former Sunderland loanee's performance and his own weekend decision, stating that it "helped him to improve and develop in terms of his fitness".

Rose was also quizzed by reporters at Westfalenstadion and, while he admits he was "fuming" and "angry" by his lack of involvement against Arsenal, stressed that there has been no rift.

"There has been no bust-up, there has been no argument," he was quoted as saying by the Evening Standard. "There has been no falling out. The manager explained he thought it'd be better for me to do a hard session on Saturday, which I did. I understand there have been a lot of reports but they are not welcomed and they are not true."

The road back to full health was an arduous one for Rose, who suffered medial ligament damage in January and tried to return to training before lingering pain forced him to undergo exploratory surgery.

A disappointing first half in Dortmund appeared to act as a rude awakening for the 27-year-old, who will hope to return to league duty against West Bromwich Albion this weekend.

"Before last night, I thought I was close and then in the first half I was horrendous, I thought I was getting hooked at half-time," he said. "It gave me a bit of a reality check, maybe I'm not as close as I thought I was. Second half I did better, I contributed quite a lot. I just hope I can get many more minutes, there are a lot of games now over the next six weeks and I hope I can play a part in as many as possible."

The Mirror were among those to claim over the weekend that Jose Mourinho and United were plotting a £40m ($53.1m) swoop for Rose in January. However, the player was quick to repeat that he still wants to help Tottenham win a trophy in 2017-18.

"I've said in most interviews I've done this season that I want to contribute to Tottenham winning something this season. Nothing has changed," he added. "Everyone just needs to understand that me and the manager want the same thing for this season: we want to win something.

"So I'm on the same page, I'm fully focused on playing as many games as I can for Tottenham, contributing to something beautiful, successful this season."