Mixed signals over Van der Vaart transfer due to technical glitch


1 Sep 2010

Tottenham Hotspur football club’s signing of Rafael van der Vaart was put in jeopardy due to a technical issue.

Spurs made a late bid for the midfielder after he suddenly became available from £8m.

“I think he was going to Bayern Munich yesterday for about £18m, but suddenly it became an awful lot cheaper,” said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp on Tuesday.

However, technical issues made it uncertain as to whether the deal went through by the 6pm deadline.

The Guardian reports that Gloucester Place received a large quantity of documents moments before the deadline was reached.

The Premier League will decide by 3.30pm today as to whether or not the documentation was completed to their satisfaction.

Redknapp is hopeful that everything will work work.

“He’s a quality player, a Dutch international, a great footballer,” said Redknapp.

“For that sort of money, we felt he was a top player and he’ll improve us, for sure, so we made the effort but whether we can pull it off or not I’m not sure now.

“It could happen; I wouldn’t like to say one way or another but we are hopeful it’ll go through. It was a last-minute job,” he said.