Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart completes £10.3m move to Hamburg

Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has returned to Hamburg in a £10.3million deal.

The Holland playmaker has signed a three-year contract with the Bundesliga club, after flying out for a medical, and will wear the No 23 shirt that has always been associated with him at the Imtech Arena, after it unexpectedly became available.


'I am delighted that Rafael van der Vaart will be playing for Hamburg again,' said the Bundesliga club's coach Thorsten Fink. 'He will be a strong addition to our team.'

The 29-year old was such a crowd favourite in his first spell at Hamburg, from 2005 to 2008, that the club refused to give it anyone else, in the hope he would return.