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Jaap Stam has admitted the club are considering signing former Real Madrid star Rafael van der Vaart.

Royals’ boss revealed after Wednesday’s kit launch at Madejski Stadium that the 33-year-old had contacted the club asking about a move.

And whilst nothing has been agreed - the prospect of van der Vaart completing a shock switch to Madejski Stadium has not been ruled out.

“I can tell you that he phoned us about wanting to play for us,” said Stam.

“We didn’t have any contact with him, we weren’t looking for him. He phoned us because he wants to prove to everybody in Europe that he is still a very good player.

“He phoned Brian (Tevreden) and asked if he could play for us, I told Brian that we’ll think about it. But I haven’t spoken to Rafael at all myself.

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“We’re thinking about him of course. He is in our minds, he’s a quality player but he’s got a history of injuries so we have think about that as well.”

Van der Vaart is currently on the look out for a new club having been told he can leave Real Betis.

The attacking midfielder, who spent two very successful years at Tottenham, only moved to Spain last summer but things have not worked out for him in La Liga.

He has spent the past two months working with a personal trainer in Amsterdam while he looks to secure his next move.

The majority of Reading fans are excited about the prospect of Van der Vaart - who played with Stam for the national side - joining the Dutch revolution at Reading.

But Royals’ boss insists the final decision over signing him is not as simple as it would seem.

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“It’s not an easy decision,” said Stam. “He is a quality player because I’ve played with him for the national team.

“But with the players we have in midfield and up front as well, would it be good for us to bring him into the squad? Can he be of a certain importance to us?

“Because we need to have players who can do everything on the pitch. Not only with the ball but also defensively. So we need to think about him in that sense.”

He added: “You know how it works in football. Agents are putting things in the press as well to put pressure on the club to sign a player, telling us they have different clubs interested as well.

“But we are not going to pressured into certain situations.”