Tottenham have confirmed the €9.65 million signing of Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid after the Premier League gave them the green light to add the Dutch midfielder to their squad.
Spurs had been sweating on clearance to bring the 27-year-old to White Hart Lane after technical difficulties hampered their efforts to submit the relevant paperwork for the move before yesterday’s 6pm transfer deadline.
But after investigating the club’s claims that there were difficulties involving computer servers used in the transaction between themselves and Real, the Premier League ratified the signing.
Manager Harry Redknapp last night revealed he was alerted to Van der Vaart’s availability just two hours before the window closed.
Redknapp also claimed the player had been set to join Bayern Munich for €21 million yesterday but the move broke down.
However, that was categorically denied this afternoon by the Spanish giants, with sports director Miguel Pardeza telling his club’s website “It is absolutely false that Real Madrid received a €21million offer from Bayern Munich for Van der Vaart.
“In fact, the German team never showed an interest to sign the player, so the allegations made in England have greatly surprised us.”
Van der Vaart helped the Netherlands reach this summer’s World Cup final but has struggled to establish himself at Madrid since joining them two years ago.
The midfielder came through the ranks at Ajax and won two league titles before transferring to Hamburg in 2005.
He was the Bundesliga side’s leading scorer in his first season and went on to captain them before moving to the Spanish capital.
He has won 83 Dutch caps, scoring 16 goals and representing his country at two European Championships and two World Cups.