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Rafael van der Vaart's time at Tottenham Hotspur has come to an end, according to Bild. The German newspaper is reporting that Spurs have agreed to sell the Dutchman to Hamburg for £10.3 million, which is below the number that Daniel Levy has been quoting van der Vaart at, but one that few would argue is unfair for a 29-year-old.
Hamburg have signed Tottenham's Rafael van der Vaart on a three-year deal, according to "Bild". Fee of about €13m.
— dan_bu (@dan_bu) August 31, 2012#HSV#THFC
This one has been rumored for a while so it is no surprise. Gylfi Sigurdsson and Moussa Dembele made van der Vaart surplus and the Dutchman wanted to move to the club where he is still consdered a hero in a country where his wife still works.
van der Vaart put in a very nice two years at Spurs and while his lack of fitness drove everyone associated with the club crazy, his skill in the final third was sublime. He scored 28 goals in 78 matches, some of them incredibly important ones so there is no doubt that van der Vaart's time at Spurs will be remembered fondly.
Considering van der Vaart's age, it's a nice but of business for Spurs. His value would be much lower in a year and almost non-existant after that. To get double-digit pounds in return to make two top flight players possible without taking a major loss this summer a possibility is pretty good.
Note: this is not a done deal. It is a report, but it is a very believable one.
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