Manchester United’s Summer Target Rafael Van Der Vaart
So Jose Mourinho has taken his position as the new manager of the Les Meringues and with Florentino Perez promising him a free flow of cash to buy whoever he wants, there are some high profile exits that can be expected over the summer from the Barnabeau. None more so than the dutch sensation Rafael Van Der Vaart who has had a scintillating season for the Los Blancos but still he is rumoured to be out of favour of the Portuguese’s plans and is expected to be shipped offshore. Manchester United have been craving a creative spark in their midfield and there is no better man (in that price range at least) than Van der Vaart to provide the needed spark.
So here are some facts about the dynamic Dutchman.
Rafael Van Der Vaart was born to a Spanish mother on 11th of February 1983 in Heemskerk, Northern Holland, and despite having the opportunity to play for Spain he plays his international football for the Dutch.
Van der Vaart, who claims to be a Manchester united fan since the Mark Hughes era, has enjoyed a Romany life style as a kid and idolizes the Brazilian legend Ramario so much so that he used to pretend to be Roamrio during his childhood in kickabouts around the caravan park in his native town.
Rafael made his professional debut for Ajax Amsterdam at a tender age of 17 years against FC Den Bosch and just a year later he was voted as the European talent of the year by a football website, but he suffered a horrific injury while playing for Ajax that threatened to end his career in 2001, his burgeoning reputation suffered serious blow however he opted to operate on the knee injury that saw doctors remove the entire meniscus, he was back on the field again in no time and dazzled the worldwide audiences with his mesmeric dribbling skills and his uncanny knack of scoring stunning goals.
His career at Ajax ended in a mysterious circumstance, first he was involved in a collision with teammate Zalatan Ibrahimovic, which may or may not have been pre-meditated, but the swede was offloaded to the old lady of turin just soon after. Then a few weeks later a Dutch Eredivise league game against Den Haag had to be stopped due to incessants chants of racism from the crowd aimed at his then girlfriend and now wife Sylvie Van Der Vaart.
He won two league titles along with a domestic cup playing for Ajax, scoring 50 times in 140 appearances, he was eventually transferred to the Nordbank Arena in 2005 where he scored 48 goals in the Bundesliga playing for Hamburg and earned himself a transfer to the Barnabeau.
After making a sensational start to his Real Madrid career with a debut goal against Numancia and a hattrick a few games later in the 7-1 demolition of Sporting Gijon he struggled to make an impression on his then manager Juande Ramos, who only used the Dutchman as an impact substitute. The situation did not improve dramatically after Ramos’s departure as even the Chilean Pellegrini did not like him much and at the start of 09-10 season he wasn’t even sure of getting a squad number but with his hard work and determination he clawed his way back into the side which has 70 appearances to his credit.
Rafael has an impressive 75 International Caps but has yet to make a big impact at the biggest stage, he was injured at the Euro 04 and was injured for the World Cup in 2006, but has still managed to score an impressive 15 international goals, with his most recent coming against England in a 2-2 draw at Wembley last August.
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