• Europa League

Redknapp eases Van der Vaart tension

Rafael van der Vaart will not be gracing the European stage until at least the knockout stages © PA Photos

Enlarge

Related Links

• Profile:
• Rafael van der Vaart

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has played down talk of a rift with Rafael van der Vaart.

The Dutchman was left out of Tottenham's Europe League squad on account of injury, leading Van der Vaart to post a message on his personal website revealing his annoyance.

Redknapp claims Tottenham omitted van der Vaart on account of the club being informed the player would be sidelined for six weeks. Van der Vaart has been receiving treatment in his native Netherlands and is expected to be back in action ahead of schedule.

With Van der Vaart frustrated by the decision to leave him out, Redknapp has moved to ease the tension.

"I spoke to the secretary Darren Eales and the first diagnosis on Rafa's hamstring was that he would be out for six weeks - at least," he told Sky Sports News.

"So we thought six weeks down the line, he misses the first four games, and we only have six games, so we thought there was not much point of putting him in. We might as well put in one of the other lads in who can play.

"The game that he would have come back for would have been the game out in Russia and we thought it was bit of a long journey for him.

"We thought we would leave him out and if we get through the qualifying group, he can come back for the next stage - that was the reasoning behind it.

"I wouldn't have slapped Rafa out on that long journey probably anyway; he's a very important player for us.

"That was the only reason behind it, he was away in Holland having treatment. I would have sent him a carrier pigeon with a message, but I didn't feel it was that important."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd

• Feedback
• Print

Email