BOTH ON AND OFF THE PITCH

identify the symptoms now. Easily dismissed as mood swings, they were classic signs of a tortured soul.

He said: “I was getting very angry, very easily. I didn’t want to go into work or do my rehab, I was snapping when I got home. Friends were asking me to do things and I wouldn’t go out. I would come home and go to bed.”

Rose was fined two weeks’ wages – around £130,000 – by Tottenham last year after claiming their star players were underpaid and the club needed marquee signings, “not ones you have to Google”.

Rotated, when fit, with Ben Davies for the left-back slot, he was restricted to just 17 appearances last season, and admitted: “It’s no secret I’ve been through a testing time, which led to me seeing a psychologist and being diagnosed with depression.

“I had to get away from Tottenham, and I’m lucky England gave me that opportunity to refresh my mind. I owe them a lot.

“Fortunately, I have a strong relationship with the physio here, Steve Kemp. I texted him every now and then, asking ‘Do you think I’ll be in the squad?’

“I used to badger him to try to get information, but he couldn’t tell me anything and I was worried.

“The manager (Southgate, above) is based at St George’s Park a lot and I would bump into him during my rehab and occasionally have dinner with him.

“Away from here, I’ve had the odd text or phone call. He’s one of the nicest men I’ve come across in football.”