Tottenham’s Danny Rose has said players are being treated like ’guinea pigs or lab rats’ by people suggesting a return to football.

The Premier League is hoping to restart the season next month but Rose remains cautious.

The defender, who is currently on loan to Newcastle, said on The Lockdown Tactics podcast: "I’m dying to get back to football but just with the things that are happening right now, people are going through this coronavirus pandemic a lot worse than me, I don’t want to be complaining about everything.

"Just off the fact that people are suggesting we should go back to football, like we’re guinea pigs or lab rats.

"We’re going to experiment this phase and see if it works or not. I can just imagine people at home saying, ’Well they earn that amount of money so they should be going back’. 

“For stuff like that I think is it worth the hassle? I could be potentially risking my health for people’s entertainment and that’s not something I want to be involved in if I’m honest.”

The 28 year-old is also open about his mental health, talking publicly about struggles with depression. 

He first spoke about them on a press day leading up to the 2018 World Cup and on the eve of an England game against Costa Rica. 

He said on the podcast he was ’overwhelmed’ by the reaction.

"We had a meeting with the national team and the manager had mentioned that the news had come out and all the lads and staff offered their support. It was really overwhelming.

“We had that game and at half-time one of the Costa Rica players pulled me aside and said 'thank you so much for what you've done, you've helped me out massively'.

"Looking back now I do see it was a big deal and I may have helped people along the way."