Van der Vaart homecoming on scrapheap after Hamburg chief cancels £9.5m deal

Rafael Van Der Vaart’s wish to return to Hamburg has been scuppered after the club’s billionaire benefactor decided against bankrolling it.

Encouraged by earlier assurances that they could count on financial backing from 75-year old local businessman Klaus-Michael Kuehne, Hamburg registered their interest in Tottenham midfielder Van der Vaart and were in advanced talks with about signing him for £9.5million.

But they were forced to ditch their interest after Kuehne, whose wealth from his transportation and logistics business makes him Germany’s seventh richest man, pulled the plug on the deal.

No go: Rafael van der Vaart's move has been scuppered

Club officials confirmed last night they couldn’t hope to proceed without Kuenhe’s input and that the transfer was off.

The about-turn is a setback for van der Vaart, whose wife works near Hamburg and who admitted just two months ago that he ‘still loves the club’ after spending three seasons there, prior to joining Real Madrid.

Kuenhe seemed to be urging Hamburg to follow up their long-standing interest in van der Vaart earlier this summer when he said: ‘I am an investor for new players and definitely available. Hamburg must land a big transfer, because that will attract more top players and make us even stronger.’



Asked whether it was his intention to sell the Holland international, the Portuguese said: 'No, on the contrary. He's a player of great importance for us, a player I count on.

'I'm not sure if Hamburg are interested but he's a player who at the moment is not for sale. Anything can happen but he's a player we are counting on.'

Spurs put great effort into landing Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer amid strong interest from Liverpool.

Plans: Andre Villas-Boas wants to keep Van der Vaart at the club

Villas-Boas seems to have a lot of faith in the former Hoffenheim player, but denied that Van der Vaart is no longer in his first-team plans.

'Rafa was very unlucky because when he came from his vacation after the Euros he got injured in the game against LA Galaxy so he missed most of our pre-season in America and Sigurdsson was with us all pre-season,' Villas-Boas said.

'He couldn't therefore play against Watford and Valencia so he came back late for selection and it was pretty straightforward to select Sigurdsson for the Newcastle game.