Darren Bent has told Danny Rose to reject a move to Middlesbrough and target joining a top-end Championship team like Brentford or Bournemouth instead.
Rose has been frozen out at Spurs, and unless he gets a local team to play for this season before tomorrow’s transfer deadline, the left-back will not play football this campaign.
Middlesbrough emerged as an option for him a few days ago and the Championship side is the only team that looks willing to take a chance on him at the moment.
While he considers their offer, Bent thinks he will be making the wrong decision to join a Boro side that isn’t challenging for a return to the Premier League.
He instead suggested that Rose should consider a move to a top Championship team like Brentford or Bournemouth.
He reckons that Rose will not want to be seen as a Championship player, which is a tag he will get if he moves to Boro and gets stuck in the club’s Championship struggles.
Bent told Football Insider: “When you drop down to the Championship to get game time that’s all well and good and I totally understand that.
“What you don’t want to do is go down to the Championship to get game time and you get stuck at a team that’s not doing very well because you’re going to start getting labelled as a Championship player.
“You’ve dropped down, you’ve not really made a difference and then you have to fight tooth and nail to get an opportunity back in the Premier League.
“For Danny Rose, he needs to be playing games, yes, but it’s got to be the right club in the right situation.
“Middlesbrough are a big club but at the same time, I wouldn’t say they’re pulling up any trees at the minute.
“I look at the situation and if it’s a top-end, like a Bournemouth or a Brentford, you’d go ‘OK, I can see that’. The top-end of the Championship would be OK.
“I’m not quite sure Middlesbrough would be the right fit but it comes down also to how desperate he is to play football. Is he desperate?”