Van der Vaart hangs up his magic boots

ANOTHER week passes and another of my old team-mates has headed into retirement. The latest announcement really struck a chord. Rafael van der Vaart was the man in question. He announced on Monday that it was time for him to hang up his boots and as soon as I saw his post on Twitter, I had to tell him it was a pleasure to play alongside him. It really was. Regular readers will know I told a story about Xherdan Shaqiri’s first training session at Stoke a few weeks ago and Rafa’s impact on me was similarly quick. The day he signed d for Tottenham, he scored a hat-trick in a practice match and all his goals came from my knockdowns. I don’t know what it was but we instantly had a chemistry. Rafa was such a good player that he instinctively knew where I was going to put a ball for him and be on it in a flash. His awareness on the pitch was fabulous and he had such skill that he could pick a pass out for you from anywhere. We only got to play together for one full season before I went to Stoke but, in that time, we created a lot of chances for each other, even more than when I played alongside Jermain Defoe, who was probably my most prolific partner. Tottenham really did have the makings of a special team then,then with Luka Modric andan Gareth Bale also gettingg up and running, anda I know how much HarryH Redknapp, our manager,m used to simply enjoy watching what Rafa did on the ball. He’d have been a legend if he had stayed longer. I played alongside some brilliant forwards, such as Fernando Torres at his peak, Jermain, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, but the relationship I had with Rafa was the most natural. I hope he enjoys his life outside of football as much as I enjoyed playing the game with him.