Rafael van der Vaart opens up on Tottenham Hotspur departure

Former Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart build up a reputation as a cult hero during his time at Spurs, despite only spending two seasons in North London. He was part of a team with the likes of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, making the quarter-finals of the Champions League in his first season.

In just two years in N17, van der Vaart scored 24 Premier League goals, doing so in just 63 appearances. In the 2010/11 season, he scored 13 goals – Spurs altogether only managed 55 goals that season, meaning the midfielder contributed nearly a quarter of the goals all by himself. All of that in just 28 league appearances.

Then, in his second, and final season at the club, he managed 11 goals in 33 games. Just sublime output from a fantastic player. In his two seasons, he also put up 16 assists, meaning he was involved in 40 goals in just 63 games.

At the beginning of the 12/13 season, the midfielder played in two games to begin the season, before returning to Hamburg, the club he had played for from 2005-2008.

Rafael van der Vaart speaks on his time at Tottenham Hotspur

When talking to talkSPORT earlier this week, the 41-year old reminisced on his time at the club, saying: "I’m really pushing [to leave] because Daniel [Levy] didn’t want to let me go, I was pushing too hard. It’s also not my best performance [leaving in that manner], but I did. Most stupid decision I ever made in my career, to leave.

My dream club was always Real Madrid, but playing for Tottenham was a privilege.

White Hart Lane? WOW. I have to say I’m a romantic guy, playing at White Hart Lane, imagine I’ve played in the Bernabéu and many big stadiums, and sometimes you’re tired and don’t want to play and think ‘let’s just get over it’, but I walk in White Hart Lane and I’ve never felt so special."

Since retiring, he has developed a reputation for being pretty outspoken, like a lot of Dutch people tend to be, but these are very kind words from someone who was an incredible player. As he mentions, he played for Real Madrid, which shows the sort of quality he had during his career.  

You can really tell that he regrets leaving the club, particularly in that manner. The following season, we saw the best ever version of Bale. Imagine we had seen that Bale along side van der Vaart.