Rafael van der Vaart has described Jose Mourinho as an ‘amazing coach’ despite the Portuguese telling him to depart Real Madrid in 2010.
Van der Vaart had spent two seasons under Mourinho at the Santiago Bernabeu before he decided to sign Mesut Ozil from Werder Bremen for £16.6million (Guardian).
The Dutchman thanked Mourinho for his honesty in suggesting that he left in order to play regular first-team football, having decided to move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Harry Redknapp and Daniel Levy completed one of the most memorable deadline day moments in Tottenham’s history when they brought the 27-year-old to North London for what proved to be a well-spent £8million (Eurosport).
He went on to score 28 goals in 78 games during his time under Harry Redknapp and has time at the club came to an end following the appointment of Andre-Villas Boas and later admitted that he should not have left a club where he spent two of the best years of his life at (FourFourTwo).
He told talkSPORT: “He is an amazing coach. I had him for just two seasons at Real Madrid. He’s an honest guy and I think almost every player who works with him, no one is talking bad about him,”
“That means he’s protecting his players, honest and that means a lot to players.
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“Although at that time he told me ‘Rafa, I’m going to buy Ozil. So I think it’s better you leave the club. If you are staying, it’s also okay but you are too good to be on the bench. Try and go somewhere else’.
“I left for Spurs, so at the end I’m also really happy to him.”
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