Danny Rose has revealed a club tried to sign him from Tottenham last year — but wanted to check he wasn’t “crazy” after he spoke out publicly over his mental health issues.
The England defender earned widespread respect and admiration for lifting the lid on his depression ahead of the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.
But he was stunned by one club’s subsequent transfer enquiry.
Left-back Rose said: “There’s still a long way to go in football because in the summer I was speaking to another club and they said, ‘The club would like to meet you, just to check that you’re not crazy.’
“It was because of what I’d said and what I’d been through.
"I was embarrassed, as whatever I’ve been through I like to think it doesn’t affect me doing my job. I still know I’ll always give 100%.”
Rose, named on Thursday in England's squad for the Nations League finals in Portugal next month, makes the claim in Prince William’s new TV documentary A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health , which airs on the BBC this Sunday.
With suicide still the biggest killer of men under the age of 45, the programme features several football stars.
Rose, 28, has since reached the Champions League Final with Tottenham.
He added: “In the end they didn’t put a bid in. But to think that people assume I might be crazy is embarrassing, and I’m still angry about it to this day.
“If that opportunity came around again, I’d definitely say no now.”
Rose’s comments come with the PFA, the players' trade union, recording a massive increase in the number of calls they are receiving from footballers struggling with mental health issues.
The PFA believe the bravery shown in coming forward is a sign that the stigma attached to them may be disappearing.
Jeff Whitley, a member of its welfare team, said: “Players are seeing people coming into their clubs and encouraging them not to suffer in silence. There is more chance now that if they need the support, they will get it.”
