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Grant Eyes Van Der Vaart - Report

Tue 16 Oct, 03:10 PM


Rafael van der Vaart's desire to play in Spain will not detract Chelsea boss Avram Grant from making a January bid to land the Dutch ace, according to The Sun

The Israeli coach will reportedly make a £20million move for the Hamburg schemer in the transfer window in a bid to bolster his Stamford Bridge ranks.

It is claimed the club's technical director Frank Arnesen has held talks with 24-year-old van der Vaart's agent, Soren Lerby.

Arnesen has close ties with van der Vaart's former club Ajax, who he left to join Hamburg in a £3.5million deal in 2005.

Van der Vaart - who is contracted to the Bundesliga side until 2010 - told Bild am Sonntag: "Hamburg's chairman Bernd Hoffman asked me in May how the club could make me happy. I replied that I would like to move to Spain and would want them to listen to offers for me. He agreed to do that.

"But then a club comes along and suddenly I'm not for sale.

"I cost just five million euros and now Hamburg could get over 20 million euros for me, yet nobody at the club is willing to talk about it."

Chelsea are not the only club linked with a move for van der Vaart, with Bayern Munich also keeping tabs on the player.

"Bayern are interested in me, but I would never join another club in Germany," he added.

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