Real Madrid To Put Van Der Vaart Up For Sale?

Rafael van der Vaart was Real Madrid’s only big signing in the summer when he joined from Hamburg for €13 million.

After making a blistering start to his career in the famous white shirt, when he netted four goals in his first three league games, the 25-year-old has almost completely disappeared from view as he struggles to hold down a place in the Madrid first XI despite the team’s incessant injuries.

According to AS, Predrag Mijatovic has lost all confidence in the playmaker and has been so unimpressed by the Oranje midfielder’s displays that he is now considering putting him up on the transfer market in June next year.

The Madrid-based daily also speculated that former coach Bernd Schuster had noticed a change in Van der Vaart’s mental and physical attitude during training several months ago. Ever since compatriot Wesley Sneijder returned from injury, the ex-Hamburg captain has barely been utilised and he has continually looked lacklustre even when called upon.

Things have not looked any brighter under new coach Juande Ramos, either. The Dutchman was taken off at half-time in the 3-0 win over Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League, and was surprisingly overlooked in El Clasico when Sneijder had to be substituted 30 minutes into the game.

Ramos opted to send in the inexperience canterano Miguel Palanca instead, a 20-year-old (who will turn 21 this Thursday) who had never played a single game with Madrid’s first team prior to Saturday’s debut against Barcelona.

The good news for Van der Vaart, based on the reports that he will only be transfer listed in the summer trade period, is that Mijatovic is willing to give him until the end of the season to turn his fortunes around.

-- KS Leong, Goal.com