Rafael van der Vaart has had a few things to say about his time at the club in an interview with FourFourTwo magazine.
The former Dutch international’s performances were a joy to behold at White Hart Lane during his two years in England, and he says he regretted leaving when he did:
“I shouldn’t have left Tottenham, though it’s always easy to say that with hindsight.”
Reaction to the interview on Twitter from fans showed there is still a lot of affection for Rafa:
https://twitter.com/djyido77/status/992105413582704640
I love him/miss him
— Harry C 🎙 (@HazSpur92) May 3, 2018
God I love this man
— Alexios (@Heressss_Alex) May 3, 2018
What a player he was. Sad that injuries limited him but even so he was brilliant.
— Anthony Heard (@AnthonyH7) May 4, 2018
Miss him so much
— Kevin Thorp (@kjthorp) May 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/1996alexhuggins/status/992104348829265920
Top, top, top player
— Patrick Behan (@PatrickBehan74) May 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/SLiiPZHD/status/992032759605547008
https://twitter.com/spice2001/status/992053729976348674
Named my cat after this guy! Rafa Van Der Caat
— Matt James (@MattJames77) May 3, 2018
Verdict:
In the interview, Rafa went on to say the main reason why he felt it was the right decision to leave was because AVB bought Gylfi Sigurdsson.
As soon as he was named on the bench for the first game of the season, he decided the time was right to return to Hamburg. If he had been a bit more patient, perhaps he could have remained for a few more years.
He had a couple more seasons at the top of his game in Germany, but injuries and age caught up with him. We certainly saw his best years whilst he was at the club.