Flying Dutchman: Rafael Van Der Vaart is set for a move
to Spurs
Tottenham have confirmed the £8million signing of Rafael van der Vaart from Real
Madrid after the Premier League gave them the green light to add
the Holland midfielder to their squad.
Spurs had been sweating on clearance to bring the 27-year-old to
White Hart Lane after technical difficulties hampered their efforts
to submit the relevant paperwork for the move before yesterday's
6pm transfer deadline.
But after investigating the club's claims that there were
difficulties involving computer servers used in the transaction
between themselves and Real, the Premier League ratified the
signing.
The Premier League said in a statement: 'The Premier League can
confirm the transfer of Rafael van der Vaart's registration from
Real Madrid to Tottenham Hotspur.'
Tottenham announced: 'We are delighted to announce that we have
reached agreement with Real Madrid for the transfer of Rafael van
der Vaart.'
Manager Harry Redknapp last night revealed he was alerted to Van
der Vaart's availability just two hours before the window
closed.
Redknapp also claimed the player had been set to join Bayern
Munich for £18m on Monday but the move broke
down.
Rumour mill: Holland international Van der Vaart
was said to be on the verge of a big-money switch to Bayern Munich
before his Spurs move
However, that was categorically denied this afternoon by
the Spanish giants, with sports director Miguel Pardeza telling his
club's official website: 'It is absolutely false that Real Madrid
received a 21million euro offer from Bayern Munich for Van der
Vaart.
'In fact, the German team never showed an interest to sign the
player, so the allegations made in England have greatly surprised
us.'
Van der Vaart's transfer is not the first to be assessed by the
Premier League over whether a deal has been completed before the
deadline.
In February 2009, they took a day to sanction Andrei Arshavin's
move to Arsenal. A year earlier, Manchester City were unable to
formally announce the signing of Benjani Mwaruwari's from
Portsmouth for almost a week due to a wrangle over whether the
paperwork had been submitted before the deadline.
But they needed to make a decision on Van der Vaart by 5pm
today, as that was the cut-off point for clubs to submit their
25-man senior squads for the first half of the Barclays Premier
League season.
Speaking yesterday, Redknapp said of Van der Vaart's impending
arrival: 'They let me know around 4pm that he was available for
£8million and, for that money, he is a top
player who will definitely improve us.
'The fee has come crashing down because the deadline is so
close. He's a great passer of the ball, he's a top footballer, he
will join in here and be a big plus for us.'
New boys: Van der Vaart joins other deadline day
signing Stipe Pletikosa at Spurs
Van der Vaart helped Holland reach this summer's World
Cup final but has struggled to establish himself at Madrid since
joining them two years ago.
The midfielder came through the ranks at Ajax and won two league
titles before transferring to Hamburg in 2005. He was the
Bundesliga side's leading scorer in his first season and went on to
captain them before moving to the Spanish capital.
He has won 83 caps for Holland, scoring 16 goals and
representing his country at two European Championships and two
World Cups.
The midfielder technically becomes Redknapp's second
deadline-day signing. Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa
finally completed his season-long loan switch from Spartak Moscow
yesterday afternoon, with the north Londoners thought to have an
option to make the deal permanent.
