Rafael van der Vaart does not hold fond memories of his brief collaboration with André Villas-Boas. Shortly after the Portuguese coach arrived at Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, the former midfielder expressed his desire to leave. Just before the transfer window closed, Van der Vaart returned to Hamburger SV.
Eleven years ago, Villas-Boas was appointed as the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur. 'He didn't want me anymore,' says Van der Vaart at the Studio Voetbal table. 'He had brought in Gylfi Sigurdsson and considered him better, so I wanted to return to HSV.
I called Daniel Levy (the owner, editor's note): figure it out, I'll come tomorrow. The transfer didn't go through, however. Then, in the middle of the night, I received a call that HSV was in the airplane ready to pick me up. That's how these things go.'
Van der Vaart can still recall being 'a little angry' that with Villas-Boas' arrival he had no prospect of a starting spot. 'I had two good years behind me and on his first day, Villas-Boas says: you are my second number 10. Well, I could have killed him. I thought he was such a jerk. A coach who doesn't field you quickly becomes a jerk, but this was truly unprecedented,' the former midfielder continues.
Ron Jans also doesn't have a high opinion of Villas-Boas, who has also managed FC Porto, Chelsea, and Olympique Marseille among others. 'I had a presentation from him once at the KNVB. That's the worst presentation I've ever seen,' the coach states. 'I always called him the Mourinho wannabe. He sounded the same, moved the same. I couldn't really deal with that,' Van der Vaart concludes.
