La Liga: Van Der Vaart issues call to Manchester United
Some players in modern football come onto the big stage with a lot to prove. In the beginning these players are seen as players of promise, players with plenty of talent and most importantly a potential to rival some of the biggest names in world football.
Van Der Vaart is one of these players. Since an early age, Rafael Van Der Vaart has been seen by many football experts as a potential successor to the likes of Seedorf. However, some of the Dutch man’s transfer moves during his short career thus far have left a lot of be desired.
In his early days with Ajax, Rafael was considered on par with the likes of Wesley Sneijder. Another player, who almost saw his career drown in wet sand is Real Madrid. With Ajax, Van Der Vaart impressed as he won the European Talent of the Year award in the CalcioManager magazine in the year 2001.
At the end of the 2004-2005 season, things turned bitter between Ajax and their attacking midfielder as he was stripped of the club captaincy and was blamed by the Dutch fans for being a non-professional athlete in his approach to the game. He was criticized for being overweight and paying more attention to his girl friend, Sylvie Meis than club football.
On 1st of June, 2005 Van Der Vaart agreed to a transfer move away from Ajax to Hamburg in the Bundesliga. This move came as a surprise to many in the transfer market as a lot of other big name clubs were interested in his services but he opted for the little known German football club. In his first season in Bundesliga, Rafael ended up as the clubs top scorer as Hamburg finished third in the league.
In his second season with the club, Hamburg finished fourth in the Bundesliga as Van Der Vaart scored twelve goals in their league campaign. Real Madrid signed Van Der Vaart after the 2005-2006 season for a mere thirteen million pounds. At Madrid, Van Der Vaart’s career has gone downhill. He has at times been the third choice offensive midfielder with his former team mate Wesley Sneijder and Guti being ahead of him in the clubs picking order.
Other times, he has been forced to play second fiddle to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Kaka. Recently after Mesut Ozil’s arrival at the Bernabeau, Rafael seems to be out of favour again. This has prompted the Dutch midfielder to issue a transfer call to the English giants, Manchester United. Commenting on his situation with Real Madrid, Van Der Vaart said that, he wouldn’t even consider playing for another club in Spain due to his affiliations with Real Madrid.
However, Rafael did add that there is only one club which a player can move to and it is in no way a step down from Real Madrid and that club is Manchester United. The 27 year old footballer further stated that, if United displayed some interest in his services, he would definitely sit down and listen to what the red devils have to say. He went onto explain that, if Manchester United come with an offer of first team football then with the way things are presently at Real Madrid, the Ajax academy graduate will be hard pressed to say no.
Van Der Vaart also showered praise on United’s long standing manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. He said that, Alex Ferguson is a great coach and that if he himself leaves Real Madrid for any team, he would want to have success with them. He added that at United success is quite likely and that is a very important factor at this stage of his career. In the end, Rafael concluded by saying that if his current manager at Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho tells him that his first team opportunities will be limited then his future would lie in English football.
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