European Football

Real Madrid confirm move for Van der Vaart

15:27 BST, Mon 4 Aug 2008
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MADRID, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has agreed a move from Hamburg SV to Real Madrid on a five-year contract, the Primera Liga club said on Monday.

The player will undergo a medical and be presented on Tuesday at 1100 GMT, Real said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).

Earlier, Horst Becker, chairman of Hamburg's supervisory board, said they would receive more than 15 million euros ($23.4 million) in the deal, which ends the 25-year-old's three-year spell in the Bundesliga.

"Last night everything came together and I am now moving to Real Madrid," Van der Vaart, whose mother is Spanish, said on his website (www.vandervaartofficial.com).

"I have always wanted to move to Spain because I have a strong bond with that country.

"Now I'm going to play for Real Madrid it's a dream come true. Tomorrow afternoon I will be presented."

The former Ajax player would become the fifth Dutchman in the Real Madrid squad, joining Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, Royston Drenthe and Wesley Sneijder at the Bernabeu.

Van der Vaart's statement came just hours after Sneijder suffered a knee injury in Real's 1-0 friendly defeat by Arsenal on Sunday that will sideline him for around three months.

Van der Vaart has been a long-time target of Real Madrid and was reported to have been sought at the specific request of coach Bernd Schuster.

His move to Real would increase speculation that the club are beginning to lose hope of luring Cristiano Ronaldo away from Manchester United.

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