Window Watch – Rafael Van Der Vaart to Spurs

Almost a full day after the transfer window slammed – or creeked rather slowly and disappointingly – shut, the biggest transfer of deadline day was ratified and Rafael Van Der Vaart has been announced as a Tottenham Hotspur player after signing from Real Madrid for a fee believed to be just 11 million euro’s.

After the glamour of players like Franco Di Santo and Tom Cleverley moving to Wigan, and Paul Konchesky finally moving to Liverpool, we got a “Galactico” to close out the summer spending, or at least an ex-Galactico.

At the start of the day Harry Redknapp – our intrepid wheeler and dealer – seemed to intimate that business coming into White Hart Lane would be quiet…

“I don’t think we need to be doing anything. I will be very surprised if anything happens.”

Then a stop-start helicopter ride for one of Van Der Vaart’s international team-mates and a few late phone calls came in and the story of transfer deadline day took flight at the last minute, if you excuse the pun. The Tottenham manager spilled last night…

“I think he was going to Bayern Munich yesterday for about £18million, but suddenly it became an awful lot cheaper. He is available now for about £8million. He is a quality player. He is a Dutch international and a great footballer.”

While the Real Madrid sporting Director refutes some of those claims, Van Der Vaart is most certainly now a Tottenham player then after the Premier League gave the all clear for the transfer to go through following yesterday’s late dash. Here’s how Harry Redknapp sees the Dutchman fitting in…

“He is a great passer of the ball, he is a top footballer. He will join in here and play the way we like to play, he would be a big plus for us.”

In his career to date Van Der Vaart has made 332 appearances for his club and country while scoring 108 goals and, as tweeted by OptaJoe, he created what is on average of 3 assist attempts for every full appearance during his time at Real Madrid – if you compare that to the stats in our Members area, then that’s up in the pantheons of Cesc Fabregas who created 82 such chances in 27 appearances last season.

Tottenham have clearly signed an international calibre midfielder for a relatively low price, but with all that is known what does this mean for the Spurs squad? Undoubted quality has joined their ranks, but the impact this could have on the team as a whole may be something worth watching out for when considering Fantasy returns.

Bar when injuries restrict him to the point of desperation, Harry Redknapp is the adopted son and heir to the throne of the 442 formation, so squeezing Van Der Vaart into the middle four would seem the most likely move. The subsequent results may not be best pleasing to Fantasy investors.

Luka Modric currently plays as the foremost central attacking midfielder for Spurs while Tom Huddlestone counter-acts his work with his long passes and cover work. But for all the diminutive Croatian’s effort, he struggles to score goals on a regular basis so Van Der Vaart could very well displace him from this role and bring his ratio of a goal every three games to the forefront of Tottenham’s attacking play.

Were this to happen, that again would open up another conundrum as Modric clearly has talent and still brings a lot to the table, a shunt out to the left-hand side would seem likely and the 46% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers who own Gareth Bale would cry in anguish as he is turned overnight into a negative “out-of-position” player. After Bale’s two goals against Stoke Redknapp did intimate something like this may be on the cards by saying…

“I think he will be [as good as Ashley Cole]. Ashley is fantastic. He started as a left-winger at Arsenal and he’s ended up at left-back, and this kid’s the same. If he’s going to be the best anywhere, I think it’ll be from left-back.”

Some recent questionable performances from Benoît Assou-Ekotto certainly add more credence to the theory as well. Bale performed impressively from left-back in the second half of last season breaking into the space left as Luka Modric cut inside, but as a £6.9m midfielder in FPL and rising it would certainly begin to raise questions if this investment is as necessary as first thought – he won’t be scoring two goals a game from left-back, surely?

Rafael Van Der Vaart is also known to be a bit of dab hand at set-pieces as well, so may be worth considering as a Fantasy option if you’re looking for someone new who may be looking to dominate free-kicks and corners (another of Bale’s current forte’s that might be on the wane) and perhaps even penalties, given how many have been missed by Spurs in recent times.

In Fantasy terms the introduction of the Dutch midfielder certainly raises as many red flags as it portents opening up new opportunities. Were all of the above to prove a fruitless prediction, then Tottenham will still have one extra top quality midfielder in their ranks (Spurs will now have a record 14 midfielders listed in FPL) so at the very best rotation will become a fear as they battle on the home front, as well as in the European Cup against the likes of Inter and co.

Given his somewhat superstar billing, and perhaps over-priced listing of his team-mate Aaron Lennon, we predict Van Der Vaart won’t be the most cheap of options on the table for your fantasy squads with an £8.5m or higher price looking more than possible in Fantasy Premier League. Anything less could turn out to be a steal, and given that the likes of Hleb (£5.0m), Cleverley (£4.5m), Pennant (£5.0m) and Gyan (£7.5m) have all been treated relatively kindly today, the FPL pricing committee might decide to be on our side once last time.

As for the Dutchman himself, we’ll close out with his opinion on this whirlwind transfer…

“The interest from Tottenham came very quick and I did not have much time to think. But I want to play football again and if possible every week, with a beautiful club. I’m totally happy…I am excited about playing in England. Whether it suits my style remains to be seen, but I think a good footballer, can adapt and I am very proud of this transfer.”

Cheers to you Rafael, we look forward to seeing you play and hopefully reaping the benefit in our Premier League (and Champions League, lest we forget) Fantasy teams in the future.