"Tottenham will be a top club"
BEVERWIJK (NL) – Early on Rafael van der Vaart already indicated he was not considering to leave Tottenham this Summer. And that's not only because the Dutch international is enjoying life at the club he describes as "like a family".
Van der Vaart also believes that "the Spurs" can make the step to become an absolute top club.
"Tottenham have everything to become really big," says Van der Vaart in Beverwijk where his annual fan day will be held on Sunday. "If we add 2 or 3 top players to our team, we could do it."
Rafael believes that Spurs also have tens of millions at their disposal to spend on transfers like their rivals Chelsea and Manchester City have done in recent times.
"The money is there at Spurs, but you have to spend it wisely. In the last January window the club wanted to spend 30 or 40 milion on a player I believe. It didn't happen but sometimes you have to keep your powder dry and wait for the right players."
5th spot
With the current squad the London outfit managed to edge close to their top 4 rivals this season. 5th place turned out to be the maximum outcome. Although Spurs did manage to get a 2-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield Road on the penultimate day of the season.
"Everyone was surprised we won at Liverpool. But if you look at their squad and then look at ours, I wasn't surprised. There was not a single moment where I thought that they were that good."
Drawing comparison to clubs above Spurs, Van der Vaart knows where to spot the weak points. "Man United, City and Ars*nal all have a striker who bags around 20 goals a season. With 13 goals I am our top scorer of the season. That's not the way it's supposed to be."
Road runner
Because of the fast pace in English football Van der Vaart has been covering more distance than ever. Maybe that's the reason of the calf injury that prevents him from joining the Dutch national squad on its trip to South America.
"Every game I cover about 12 or 13 kilometres. Most of the times that's the most distance covered in the team and sometimes 2 or 3 kilometres more than others. In my first game in the Premier League I often thought 'I can't go on', while we only had played for 70 minutes. I had the feeling we were already playing for 2 or 3 hours."
Disappointment
Now the left-footed player has overcome this point of fatigue. It was hard for him to hide his disappointment when manger Harry Redknapp subbed him halfway through the second half during some of the games in the second part of the season.
"Did I find it annoying when Redknapp told the press he had concerns if I was fit enough to play 90 minutes? Oh well, he subbed me a bit too much. And when I try to argue he shouldn't sub me that much, of course he has to say something... But let's be fair, I have been decisive during the last couple of minutes of the game on several occasions."
"I'm in great shape and my weight is in order. In England everything goes at 150 miles an hour. It's obvious that you miss a game every once in a while due to minor injuries. I played 37 or 38 games in total, scored 15 goals and gave 10 assists this season. So it was a good season for me. Maybe my best because this is the toughest league in the world."
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