Danny Rose compares footballers to 'lab rats' as Premier League's Project Restart gathers pace

Concerns: Danny Rose
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Danny Rose says footballers are being treated like "lab rats" by being asked to return to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Newcastle left-back, who is on loan from Tottenham, has already said the game should not be considering restarting "until the numbers have dropped massively" but he has agreed to join no-contact, group training with his team-mates on Tuesday afternoon.

Rose described the "Phase One" socially-distanced sessions as an "experiment" but says he remains conflicted about returning to action.

"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," Rose told The Lockdown Tactics podcast.

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

Known for his outspokenness, Rose caused a stir early this month with comments on the proposed boost to the nation's morale by returning to the pitch. He admitted he could have chosen his words more carefully following a conversation with Newcastle boss Steve Bruce.

"I didn't think too much to it," Rose said. "I was having my breakfast the next day and then I saw Steve Bruce coming up on my phone. So I was like 'oh no!'.

"I let it ring for about 30 seconds and then I thought I'd better answer this. So I went in another room and I spoke to him and he said I just need to word things a bit better if I'm going to do things like that.

"He explained the measures that they're going to do to make things safe. Obviously I've seen the headlines and we, as footballers and people in the public, we have a platform."

Rose has made a string of charitable donations during the pandemic and he also believes footballers are being held to double standards by the Government after Health Secretary Matt Hancock called for players "to do their bit" by taking wage cuts last month.

"I know I maybe could have worded what I said a bit better but...six weeks ago Matt Hancock was saying that footballers need to half their wages and now six weeks on we're needed to hopefully try to entertain people. People need to make their minds up. It's one way or the other.

"We shouldn't forget that we're paying 50 per cent tax as well and a high chunk of that is meant to go to the NHS, so I fully agree that we should never have been put on the back foot where we felt we maybe should have done something.

"If you do want to do something then great, but you should be able to choose where the money you earn goes to."

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