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Double Dutch, noun, meaning: impossible to understand.

No, not Holland’s decision to let Ron Vlaar take the first penalty in shootout – it was a strange decision, but his costly saved spot-kick should not detract from a brilliant tournament for the Aston Villa captain.

It’s Villa’s failure to secure Vlaar on a longer-term contract before he went off to become a World Cup wonder that is the very definition of Villa Park’s version of ‘Double Dutch’.

And so are the consequences, because while the Netherlands hero and Villan has most likely doubled his pricetag during Brazil 2014, he has probably doubled his wage demands over the past month too.

Turning up at Bodymoor Heath with a World Cup winner’s medal after his extended post tournament break would have been a decent way of strengthing his bargaining position. Alas it was not to be.

But even after Holland’s cruel semi-final spot-kick defeat to Argentina last night, chief financial officer/interim chief executive Robin Russell might still find himself reaching for his club abacus upon Vlaar’s return.

Much depends on how much interest Vlaar’s virtuoso displays for the Dutch during their march to the last four has generated from rival clubs in the Premier League and abroad.

Surely it is only a matter of time before the red-top tabloids link Vlaar with Manchester United as his national team manager Louis van Gaal heads to Old Trafford.

United have central defensive vacancies following the end of season departures of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic and Vlaar has tamed some of the world’s best strikers under the close watch of van Gaal.

Vlaar was on Harry Redknapp’s (admittedly vast) shopping list before the Queens Park Rangers boss opted for a reunion with free agent, but far-from-free high earner, Ferdinand earlier this month.

There is sure to be a queue of other suitors, given Vlaar’s form on a global stage and ticking contract situation.

Lambert deserves credit for bringing Vlaar to Villa for a modest fee of around £3 million two years ago and he will deserve even more if he and Roy Keane can use their powers of persuasion to convince the skipper to stay at the up-for-sale club.

The 12-yard spot in Sao Paulo might have fazed him, but Ron is probably the only person at Villa (with the possible exception of Christian Benteke) who won’t be intimidated by Keane’s thousand yard stare.

Lambert talked Benteke into signing an extended deal against the odds a year ago and might need to summon up the patter that kept the wantaway striker at Villa Park when Vlaar reports back to Bodymoor.

Crucially, however, Villa never received an actual bid for Benteke, nor was the club publicly on the market last July, so the true test of Vlaar’s intentions and the claret and blues’ resolve will come if and when a formal offer is lodged.

True, Vlaar is not the type to do an Alpay, circa 2002, and ruin his Villa Park legacy by throwing a strop on the strength of a World Cup semi-final crusade. He is certainly a more measured and modest defender than the Turk.

But at 29, in the autumn of a career plagued by injuries and having seen arguably his best chance of glory on the international stage beaten away by Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero then he will be seriously considering his future.

His stock has never been higher and never will be. This is his best chance to land a move giving him realistic scope to add to a sparse domestic honours list, which includes just one major trophy, the Dutch equivalent of the FA Cup.

The alternative to seeking silverware elsewhere is to continue trying to prop up one of the Premier League’s leakiest backlines. Jores Okore is back to help and Villa have high hopes for the Dane, but unlike Vlaar, recently recruited Swiss centre-half Philippe Senderos hardly covered himself in glory at the World Cup.

Senderos must be judged on how he performs for his new club not his country, but it is baffling that Villa can commit two years worth of wages to him yet dawdle over offering Vlaar new terms.

Vlaar seems to have become a central defensive chameleon for club and country, summed up on social media by the tweeters who remarked that he could nullify Lionel Messi yet be troubled by Nahki Wells.

It is almost as if in the orange of the Netherlands he rises to the challenge of playing alongside top class players, while in the claret and blue of Villa he is dragged down to the level of rookies and unreliables around him, although, in his defence, last season was a vast improvement on his debut campaign.

Over the next few weeks, plenty will be going through the closely-cropped head of Vlaar, which will refuse to drop, despite the bitter disappointment of paying the penalty for his ultimately misplaced Dutch courage in the shootout.

How Villa resolve the skipper’s future will be key, with the claret and blue faithful crying out for good news in a summer of ongoing upheaval.

The common consensus is that Villa are floundering. If they were a footballer, the perception would be that they couldn’t trap a bag of cement.

Somehow they need to trap a colossal block of Concrete.