His agent, Jonathan Barnett, said live on sky sports on conclusion of the deal that they had been negotiating for 110 days. That was on September 1st which makes the first day of Real Madrids offer, Tuesday 21st May which was 2 days after the end of the 2012/13 season.
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VDV
- Thread starter LutonSpurs
- Start date
His agent, Jonathan Barnett, said live on sky sports on conclusion of the deal that they had been negotiating for 110 days. That was on September 1st which makes the first day of Real Madrids offer, Tuesday 21st May which was 2 days after the end of the 2012/13 season.
milo
Jack L. Jones
But that could be Real submitting a derisory offer. It was also pretty clear that Real were making approaches to Bale's representatives from the off. Either of these situations could fit with Barnett's comment without us actively negotiating.
Rob
Peter Taylor
They were my thoughts but I lost interest after nelto's post...
I
indianspur
Guest
I think once we failed to qualify for the CL on the last day and Real immediately after went for Bale there was no chance Bale was going to stay. He wanted to go and it was just a matter of the two clubs agreeing a fee.
El Guepardo
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Real Madrid must be laughing at our spectacular sabotage of a season. We signed players for a combined value of over £85m and it's failed for us. Spectacularly so, in our faces. Whereas Bale has had an excellent start to his career in Spain. What ****s!!
metalgear
Luka Modric
while they paid a lot of money, they should be still grateful that we didn't go for the 125 that Man U offered!
PochettinoPochettinoPochettino
Serge Aurier
VDV, Modric, Bale, Berbatov. Our only players that excited me. Now we have none. Sad days.
VDV was so exciting and when we signed him, I think I actually had a bit of pre-***. That and the fact that my mates said I looked
like him......
VDV was so exciting and when we signed him, I think I actually had a bit of pre-***. That and the fact that my mates said I looked
like him......
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
This is not entirely true. He's been poor for the majority of the season, irrespective of what his goal scoring/assists stats look like. Looks like he only really plays well when Ronaldo is not on the pitch from what I have seen.
On your general point that we got the worse end of the deal well maybe yeah. I still harbour hopes that our newbies will settle and be far more effective next season. They are all international players of a certain quality and should be doing far better than they are.
chancer
Gudni Bergsson
Seriously flakey personality. Posting pictures of his happy family every 5 minutes and then having his marriage fall to pieces so spectacularly and so quickly just smacks of narcissism to me. Either don't post that stuff and do what you want in private, or do post it and behave yourself. Can't have it both ways. Well rid.
**** me mate, if that's playing poorly ...
Yes, stats can lie, but 14 odd goals and 13 or so assists in sub 25 starts can't really be interpreted as playing badly ...
Rorschach
Sonny Walters
Well I can only tell you what I have seen with my own eyes and I have been watching a lot of RM this season. In fact I watch a lot of the Madrid teams as my brother is married into a Madrid family of football nuts (mostly AM not RM ). From what I have seen Bale has largely been peripheral to the action and in some of his earlier games in particular he hardly touched the ball. I kid you not. I think the stats don't tell the full tale in Bale's case. You have to consider that RM steamroller most of the teams in their division and so the stats can be skewed while performance levels still be poor. There is every chance that playing someone else in his position might have yielded better numbers!!!
I running Bale down a bit but I won't deny he's had his good moments too, especially in the last month or so, and he looks like he is finding his feet over there. This is probably telling in itself as Modric went through similar teething problems last season and now is one of the best performers in the RM team. There's an obvious lesson here for Spurs too in that we shouldn't write off our own new signings so readily.
Enter the Pitbull
Luke Young
Top class player. More passion in his left toe than any of the current lot. Always able to conjure something from nothing.
milo
Jack L. Jones
I don't that's born out by what we know about the summer. I think that he was ready to stay for one more season before Real started their tapping up and other dirty tricks. I suspect that it was the "this summer is your only chance to join us" one which clinched the deal. Bastards.
Vega
Neil Sullivan
From an article in the Mirror - good memories, great player.
As his contract ticked towards its expiry date at Hamburg last season, Rafael van der Vaart's love for the game began to wilt.
The Dutchman has always erred on the side of 'luxury player' and the lack of possession and the frequent relegation scraps in the Bundesliga were beginning to weigh him down.
All the 32-year-old’s ever wanted to do is have fun playing football; without that enjoyment, he threatens, he would quit the game.
During those protracted, dim winter nights in Germany, he allowed his mind to wander to a time when he was relishing his profession.
"I always used to go the The Live Room in Barnet with Robbie Keane [after Tottenham matches], I still have photos from there actually," he says, laughing, as he remembers pulling pints at Keane's leaving bash.
I've never been back there actually. I've been to London a few times, but you end up in a hotel in the centre."
Van der Vaart has just signed for La Liga side Real Betis following a career which has taken in Ajax, Hamburg, Real Madrid and Tottenham.
He was still living on a caravan park with his family when he made his debut as a 17-year-old for Ajax, a club he won two Eredivisie titles with, and he was presented at the Bernabeu in front of 20,000 frenzied Madrid supporters.
He's been capped over 100 times by Holland and he played in the 2010 World Cup final, but it's those evenings in The Live Room and his two years at White Hart Lane where his memory is often drawn.
"Because I didn't have a contract [this summer] I almost tried to come back [to Spurs], then Betis came and I decided to come to Betis, but Tottenham was always special," he tells Mirror Football at the Seville-based club's Luis del Sol training ground.
But if [Spurs] had wanted me, I would have gone [back]. But Betis came and the decision was quite quick: Betis."
The two years Van der Vaart spent in North London, he is all too keen to offer, were the best of his career. It begs the question, why did he leave?
"It was a little to do with everything," he continues in the 40 degree heat gripping the south of Spain.
"It was private things, but also when what's his name [Andre Villas-Boas] came he said to me 'you're not my number one' and I had played two years, like, unbelievable, so for me it was really strange that he said that to me. So then I said, well, it's better to leave and that is what happened.
"It was a stupid decision, the most stupid in my career to leave Tottenham. I absolutely regret it because it was the best two years in my football life.
When you see that team, when you have [Gareth] Bale, [Luka] Modric, me, [Aaron] Lennon... it was an unbelievable team. I think every game we played we were the better side. We had a lot of possession and a lot of fun with each other.
"And Harry [Redknapp] — he was like your dad. I would give everything for that man; I was really sad when he left. I think the England job would have been the best job for him and also for England."
Shortly after his Real Betis unveiling, where he was presented alongside his Spanish grandma, Dolores, who lives 80 miles south of Seville, an article in another national newspaper put it that his his choosy, shirt-out swagger and brio has too often been a square peg in a round hole.
"I don't think so," he replies when this is put to him. "Football changes, of course, you see it everywhere. The typical No.10, maybe there are only a few left because the majority of teams don't play with a No.10.
As his contract ticked towards its expiry date at Hamburg last season, Rafael van der Vaart's love for the game began to wilt.
The Dutchman has always erred on the side of 'luxury player' and the lack of possession and the frequent relegation scraps in the Bundesliga were beginning to weigh him down.
All the 32-year-old’s ever wanted to do is have fun playing football; without that enjoyment, he threatens, he would quit the game.
During those protracted, dim winter nights in Germany, he allowed his mind to wander to a time when he was relishing his profession.
"I always used to go the The Live Room in Barnet with Robbie Keane [after Tottenham matches], I still have photos from there actually," he says, laughing, as he remembers pulling pints at Keane's leaving bash.
I've never been back there actually. I've been to London a few times, but you end up in a hotel in the centre."
Van der Vaart has just signed for La Liga side Real Betis following a career which has taken in Ajax, Hamburg, Real Madrid and Tottenham.
He was still living on a caravan park with his family when he made his debut as a 17-year-old for Ajax, a club he won two Eredivisie titles with, and he was presented at the Bernabeu in front of 20,000 frenzied Madrid supporters.
He's been capped over 100 times by Holland and he played in the 2010 World Cup final, but it's those evenings in The Live Room and his two years at White Hart Lane where his memory is often drawn.
"Because I didn't have a contract [this summer] I almost tried to come back [to Spurs], then Betis came and I decided to come to Betis, but Tottenham was always special," he tells Mirror Football at the Seville-based club's Luis del Sol training ground.
But if [Spurs] had wanted me, I would have gone [back]. But Betis came and the decision was quite quick: Betis."
The two years Van der Vaart spent in North London, he is all too keen to offer, were the best of his career. It begs the question, why did he leave?
"It was a little to do with everything," he continues in the 40 degree heat gripping the south of Spain.
"It was private things, but also when what's his name [Andre Villas-Boas] came he said to me 'you're not my number one' and I had played two years, like, unbelievable, so for me it was really strange that he said that to me. So then I said, well, it's better to leave and that is what happened.
"It was a stupid decision, the most stupid in my career to leave Tottenham. I absolutely regret it because it was the best two years in my football life.
When you see that team, when you have [Gareth] Bale, [Luka] Modric, me, [Aaron] Lennon... it was an unbelievable team. I think every game we played we were the better side. We had a lot of possession and a lot of fun with each other.
"And Harry [Redknapp] — he was like your dad. I would give everything for that man; I was really sad when he left. I think the England job would have been the best job for him and also for England."
Shortly after his Real Betis unveiling, where he was presented alongside his Spanish grandma, Dolores, who lives 80 miles south of Seville, an article in another national newspaper put it that his his choosy, shirt-out swagger and brio has too often been a square peg in a round hole.
"I don't think so," he replies when this is put to him. "Football changes, of course, you see it everywhere. The typical No.10, maybe there are only a few left because the majority of teams don't play with a No.10.
