Hamburg: Van der Vaart not for sale
German club Hamburg have stressed their desire to keep star midfielder Rafael van der Vaart at the club after newspapers reports linked the Dutch playmaker with a move away from the Bundesliga outfit.
Van der Vaart, 24, signed from Ajax two years ago and has a contract with the Bundesliga side until June 2010, but has repeatedly stated his desire to play Champions League football with a Spanish side.
Van der Vaart, a free-kick specialist and Hamburg’s most important player, has a Spanish mother and was recently photographed wearing a Valencia shirt shortly before Hamburg turned down a bid of 14 million euros for their captain.
The club still remain hopeful that the Dutch internationalist, who has not pubished for his actions, will remain with the club. The influential skipper has scored seven Bunesliga goals from midfield already this season as Hamburg start to regain the form that saw them playing Champions League football last season.
“The topic is not closed for us,” Hamburg manager Bernd Hoffmann told Kicker magazine.
“We are working on it, we want Rafael to stay with us for a long time.”
Although van der Vaart has three years left on his contact, he does have a clause in his contract which would mean he could leave in 2009 if any club bid just 1.5 million euros for him. If Hamburg got a bargain when they signed him from Ajax, this would be the steal of the century.
Hamburg want to build their side around him and have ruled out a possible transfer to Spain when the transfer window opens next during January’s winter break.
