Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has poured cold water on reports German league side Schalke 04 want to sign him by insisting he is happy to stay with Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur.
Van der Vaart, who is with the Netherlands squad preparing for Saturday's opening Euro 2012 Group B match against Denmark in Kharkiv, Ukraine, has two years left on his Spurs contract and is content to stay at White Hart Lane.
"There is always interest, but I am happy in England and want to stay," he told German Sky Sports at the Dutch training camp.
Both Van der Vaart and his agent Robert Geerlings have admitted being approached by Schalke, but the 29-year-old insists his comments were blown out of proportion.
"I only said that in football anything is possible and nothing more," he added.
Van der Vaart already has Bundesliga experience having spent three seasons with Hamburg before he joined Real Madrid in August 2008 and was then snapped up by Spurs in 2010.
"Van der Vaart is a very good player, and there are also other considerations, but it does not look as if anything will happen quickly," Schalke chairman Clemens Toennies has said.
Hot News
Rank | Team | W/D/L | Pts |
---|
Cities & Stadiums
The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments
Year | Winners | Runner-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Spain | Germany | Russia / Turkey |
2004 | Greece | Portugal | Netherlands / Czech Republic |
2000 | France | Italy | Netherlands / Portugal |
1996 | Germany | Czech Republic | France / England |
1992 | Denmark | Germany | Netherlands / Sweden |
1988 | Netherlands | Soviet Union | Italy / West Germany |
1984 | France | Spain | Denmark / Portugal |
1980 | West Germany | Belgium | Czechoslovakia |
1976 | Czechoslovakia | West Germany | Netherlands |
1972 | West Germany | Soviet Union | Belgium |
1968 | Italy | Yugoslavia | England |
1964 | Spain | Soviet Union | Hungary |
1960 | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia |