Rafael van der Vaart admits he didn’t make the right choice leaving Tottenham Hotspur for Hamburg SV in 2012.
The former attacking midfielder’s playing career at the highest level lasted for 18 years between 2000 2018. This includes two spells with the German club and two years at Tottenham.
In his first spell at the Bundesliga side, he managed 48 goals and 32 assists from 113 appearances between 2005 and 2008.
The Dutchman’s performances helped him secure a big move to Real Madrid. He had 12 goals and 13 assists from 73 matches for the La Liga side.
Van de Vaart represented the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup, which they lost to Spain in the final. After the tournament, Los Blancos sold him to the Premier League side.
Dutchman’s Tottenham spell
Harry Redknapp was in charge of Spurs at the time, and Rafael van der Vaart only played under him while in England.
The former Ajax man became a fan favourite while in London and left Tottenham Hotspur for Hamburg in 2012. The latter had finished 15th in the Bundesliga during the 2011/12 season.
He had his heart set on returning to the German club, even though that wasn’t the right step sporting wise.
| Premier League stat | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | Spurs total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 28 | 33 | 2 | 63 |
| Minutes | 2,239 | 2,338 | 84 | 4,661 |
| Goals | 13 | 11 | 0 | 24 |
| Assists | 8 | 7 | 0 | 15 |
Regrets Tottenham exit
Rafael van der Vaart was a guest on podcast Phrasenmäher and Tuesday’s print edition of Bild relays his comments.
When asked which move he would avoid today, he said: “It sounds strange now, but I don’t think it was smart to go back to HSV. I was at the top of my game at Tottenham. I wanted to help HSV and thought: They can’t be relegated. My heart beats for HSV, but from a sporting perspective, it wasn’t the best decision.”
The Dutchman’s second spell with Hamburg SV lasted for three years, and he left them for Real Betis in 2015. During that period, he managed 18 goals and 23 assists.
On rating [*] his second spell at Hamburg, Van der Vaart explained: “The first year gets a 1. The team was stuck at the bottom of the table and, in my opinion, lacked quality at the start.”
“We then turned things around completely. With guys like Adler, Diekmeier, and Jansen. The second half of the season was also good, but the last 1.5 years were difficult.”
“Almost getting relegated as captain of such a club—I have to give myself a 6 for that.”
*Whilst most ratings are out of 10, or sometimes 5, Bild use the German school grading system. 1 means very good, 2 is good, 3 is average, 4 is passable but still lacking, 5 is deficient and 6 is insufficient. A 6 is the lowest possible grade and, taking it back to the school grades, it means that not only were things not up to standard, but there was even a failure to understand the basics.
