STEVE BRUCE has challenged Danny Rose to use the next three months to force his way back into the England side for this summer’s European Championships.

Having appeared as a substitute in the draw with Norwich City, Rose could make his first Newcastle United start in tomorrow’s Premier League game at Arsenal.

The 29-year-old joined the Magpies on a season-long loan from Tottenham last month, with his international ambitions having been a key factor in his willingness to leave North London, where he had been frozen out of Jose Mourinho’s first-team plans.

He has won 29 senior caps for England, and started both last September’s 4-0 victory over Bulgaria and the following month’s 2-1 defeat in the Czech Republic.

However, it is widely accepted that he has been usurped as England’s first-choice left-back by Ben Chilwell, with Manchester United’s Luke Shaw also in the mix for a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad.

Newcastle have 13 Premier League games remaining, and are through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, and Bruce is confident Rose will use whatever opportunities come his way to cement his own spot in Southgate’s plans.

“The easiest thing for Danny would have been to remain where he was and not play,” said the Newcastle boss. “But he wants to play, and he wants to get in the England team. Hopefully, we can help him do that.

“It’s up to him now. He’s probably got 12 or 13 games to show what he can do. You’ve got to remember that last September, he was playing for England in the qualifying games. He played in those matches so that just shows the calibre of player we’re talking about.”

Given Rose’s international credentials, Newcastle’s success in recruiting him for the rest of the season was something of a coup.

The Magpies have rarely been in the market for seasoned internationals during the Mike Ashley era, but having identified Rose as a viable target at the end of last year, Bruce was able to complete what turned out to be a relatively straightforward transfer.

“It became knowledge that things weren’t hunky dory (at Tottenham),” he said. “I said three or four weeks before that you’re always monitoring a situation like that. There’s probably one or two like that at every club – there’s Jack Colback and (Henri) Saivet here for example.

“We were just monitoring, and then what helped enormously is that Danny was clear that he wants to play. It became very, very easy, in fact I’d say it was actually one of the easiest ones to do. The player was surplus to requirements at Tottenham, and it certainly wasn’t as difficult as the deal for (Valentino) Lazaro, for example. With him, we had to beat off eight or ten other teams.

“The big thing was always that Danny wanted to be here. That helped enormously with everything, and I hope that he’ll turn out to be one of the better ones of the transfer window. Certainly, for a club like ours to get England’s left-back, which he was as recently as the autumn, was great. I just hope he comes and proves what he can do.”

As well as having a clear need to play more matches, Rose has also admitted that his move to Newcastle was driven, in part, by a desire to return to his Northern roots.

While he might have spent the vast majority of his career with Tottenham, Rose was born in Doncaster, spent his formative footballing years in the academy at Leeds United and also spent a season on loan at Sunderland.

“I think it helps that he’s from the North,” said Bruce, who insists it is too early to start thinking about what might happen with the full-back beyond the end of the season. “It does become a bit of an issue in terms of getting people here.

“If people have London or Newcastle, then most of them choose London for whatever reason. I can’t understand that myself, but there you go. It certainly helped us that he’s a Northern lad. I think he understands what the club is about, totally, and that will not faze him, that’s for sure.”