Van der Vaart opens up about time at Tottenham, makes bold claim
By Harvey Byrne
Rafael van der Vaart has shared that he felt he was at the top of his game while at Tottenham and has even made the bold claim that the side could have won the Champions League.
The 33-year-old enjoyed two years in north London between 2010 and 2012 after making the £8million switch from La Liga giants Real Madrid.
He has played for a number of top level European clubs, including Hamburger, Ajax and the Galacticos, but he feels that he was at his peak while with Spurs.
He starred in a Tottenham side which also contained Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Ledley King and Niko Kranjcar and Van der Vaart believes the team could have gone on to win Europe’s elite competition if they had stayed together.
“I was at Real Madrid and I regard them as the biggest club side in the world,” told Van der Vaart to the Sunday Post.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to leave there, but Spurs made it very clear they wanted me.
“I wondered what the club would be like, but I have to say I settled in very quickly and the supporters made me very welcome.
“I felt at the top of my career when I played for them and we had some good success in the Champions League.
“We had a really good team, we were developing and growing and if we could have stayed together for one or two more years, we could have won the Champions League.
“Harry Redknapp was a great manager and knew how to get the very best out of his players. He was like a father figure to me.
“Beside him he had Joe Jordan, a very good coach and a proud Scotsman.”
Tottenham have never won the Champions League in their history and were even dumped out of the group stages this campaign.
However, Van der Vaart believes his team, which contained many well known names could have become champions of Europe.
The Holland international was part of the team which competed in the 2010-11 Champions League campaign, but a 5-0 aggregate defeat against his old club Real Madrid saw them knocked out in the quarter-final stages.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs are eyeing this prolific 21-year-old striker.
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