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There is no doubt that amongst the best Dutch players in recent history, we have Rafael Van der Vaart well-ranked with the very best. He got so good playing for Hamburg, that Real Madrid managed to sign him back in 2008, he remained at the club for the span of two seasons and never really made a huge impact. Back then, he played alongside two fellow Dutchmen like Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.
But there was a moment in which he came really close to playing for Real Madrid's most hated rivals, FC Barcelona. The Dutchman explained how that whole deal was, back when he was still a teenager, he rejected an offer from the Catalan club. He spoke to Noorhollands Dagblad and said: "Barcelona wanted to sign me when I was 16. But I never even considered a transfer. I felt that I had to make a name for myself at Ajax first."
The player gave an advice to all young Dutch player to prove themselves in their country first: "That is my advice to promising youngsters in the Eredivisie as well, to show what they can do in the Netherlands first before making the move elsewhere. You see that there is a lot of hype about youngsters these days, they get all sorts of praise after a few games. It's the same in the Netherlands. You play a few good games and you get called up for the national team and are being linked with big clubs."
Photo credit: Rafael Van der Vaart
