Bundesliga - Jol warns Van der Vaart suitors

Eurosport - Thu, 03 Jul 12:28:00 2008

Hamburg manager Martin Jol has warned Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool that Rafael van der Vaart wants to stay at the club.

FOOTBALL Hamburger SV Rafael van der Vaart - 0

The Premier League trio have all been linked with the talented midfielder after his displays at Euro 2008, while Real Madrid and Barcelona are said to be monitoring the situation.

Speaking in an interview with the club's official website, Jol revealed that the Dutch international has no problems with playing for the Bundesliga side.

"Van der Vaart is a special case," Jol said.

"Zeljko Petrovic [Jol's assistant] has spoken to him on the phone and he said once again that he would like to stay at Hamburg.

"He loves Hamburg."

Jol did, however, leave the possibility open that the club might be forced to sell the playmaker if a top Spanish club comes in for the 25-year-old.

He added: "It could be that he would think about moving if a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona makes an offer - that is what we have learned from past experience."

Jol added that he hoped to promote a more attacking style of football at the club next season.

"We have to start scoring goals from all sorts of positions," he said.

"We only scored 40 goals last season and you don't usually finish fourth with that sort of haul."

Meanwhile, Jol has indicated he is ready to give Thimothee Atouba a chance to impress despite reports the defender is wanted by Celtic.

Atouba played under Jol at Tottenham but was also sold by the Dutchman to Hamburg in 2005.

The 26-year-old remains with the Bundesliga club and Jol admits he had some regrets about letting the Cameroonian leave White Hart Lane.

"I know Atouba from his time with Tottenham. We had another very good left-back in [Erik] Edman and Tim said to me that he wanted to go to Hamburg," Jol said.

"When he played a good season here I thought perhaps I had made an error.

"He can still develop further. He is good in his own half but can still become better in the other half."

Jol is prepared to judge each player in pre-season training and Atouba could find himself a key figure in Jol's plans.

"With me all players are alike," Jol said. "They all begin with a clean slate."

TEAMtalk / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 18 of 18

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  1. THE MANAGER OF VAN DER VAAR CLUB SAID THAT HE CAN GIVE
    A VAN DER FART TO EACH SUITOR CLUB...FAIR?
    OF COURSE IS FAIR....

    From dorin c, on Fri 4 Jul 8:58AM

  2. what the helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

    From hassan a, on Fri 4 Jul 6:05AM

  3. kenneth o@,DON'T LOOK IN THE MIRROR WHEN YOU ARE
    TALKING ABOUT GERMAN FOOT-BALL!!
    MAN CITY......PISS OFF!!

    From dorin c, on Fri 4 Jul 3:17AM

  4. VAN DER VAAR IS NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO BE OWNED BY
    ABRAHAHAMOVICH,GLAZERS OR HICK&GILLETE!!!

    From dorin c, on Fri 4 Jul 3:13AM

  5. Bundesliga sucks...just like germany football team sucks .Van deer vaart should go... and join Man city

    From Kenneth o, on Fri 4 Jul 3:08AM

  6. haha..go to bayern munchen 1st..win the bundesliga n then go to another club in another league..hahaha

    From Bojan, on Thu 3 Jul 11:47PM

  7. go to liverpool or arsenal they need and deserve someone like van on the left. f chelsea and man u dont need you

    From alificomc, on Thu 3 Jul 11:02PM

  8. Yeah right.1 of the big 4 are gonna get Van De Vaart whether Martin Jol likes it or not.

    From Justin, on Thu 3 Jul 10:59PM

  9. united does not need him we have the best midfield in the premiership

    From ejirotebrise, on Thu 3 Jul 9:36PM

  10. Gerrard in a holding role seems like a waste to me... I don't know though...

    From Burt H, on Thu 3 Jul 8:29PM

  11. chelsea is the club for him fact

    From donnellans, on Thu 3 Jul 5:44PM

  12. Reina in goal, Carragher on the right of defence, Dossena? on the left Skrtel and Agger in the center, Gerrard and Mascherano playing the holding roll in midfield, Babel on the left, Kuyt on the right and van der Vaart right behind Torres could work very well.

    From Moagise, on Thu 3 Jul 4:18PM

  13. Hes gotta leave Hamburg. What a waste of talent playing in that garbage league !!! get urself over to the premiership and put the famous red shirt on (Utd that is)

    From neil.jolly, on Thu 3 Jul 4:09PM

  14. come on van der vaart go to man u they won premier league and champions league

    From Henrik, on Thu 3 Jul 3:59PM

  15. nah..man u suits him the best..go to man u..

    From Bojan, on Thu 3 Jul 2:53PM

  16. van der Vaart shoudl rather come to Arsenal where he will play the best football of his career.

    From Luxy, on Thu 3 Jul 2:08PM

  17. i think is better for a great player like van der vaart to make a move to liverpool,go and see the diffrent,van der goal!!

    From powell p, on Thu 3 Jul 1:11PM

  18. If van der Vaart stayed at Hamburg, it is a waste.
    So far, He should get famous when he was young, he had bad luck at his career,
    I knew about him when he played at Ajax, he is a world class player
    He should move to a big euro club, it was a shame that his last year's transfer to Valencia collapsed.

    From Sam, on Thu 3 Jul 12:34PM
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