Rafael Van der Vaart’s potential transfer from Hamburg to Juventus moved another step closer after Giovanni Cobolli Gigli admitted the Bianconeri’s interest in the player.


The Dutch midfielder is virtually certain to leave the Bundesliga at the end of the current season, as he has a clause in his contract which will allows him to be sold for just £1m in 2009.

Hamburg will thus avoid the risk of this taking place by cashing in on their star man next summer.

A host of big European clubs have been linked with a move for the 24-year-old including Valencia and Inter Milan, but Juventus have emerged as strong favourites for his signature in the past few days.

“For sure we will return to the market and we are at looking around for players for the summer,” said Juve President Cobolli Gigli.

“We will buy players of a certain calibre, someone on the level of Van der Vaart.”

Van der Vaart himself opened up a path for a move by admitting he would move to a big club like Juventus.

“I will only leave Hamburg for a big club, such as Juventus,” the ex-Ajax man told Voetbal International.

“I know that they are interested and if the Bianconeri were to make me a concrete offer I would consider it very carefully.”

Hamburg star Rafael Van der Vaart has declared that he wants to move to Juventus.


The Dutch playmaker, who is certain to leave the Bundesliga at the end of the season, has been linked with a transfer to the Bianconeri for several weeks now.

“I can already see myself playing for Juventus,” Van der Vaart told German newspaper ‘Bild’ this weekend.

“I know that Juve are interested in me and have been after me since the summer. They are one of the most important clubs in the world, they have prestige and are very intriguing.”

Although it was believed that Van der Vaart would stay at Hamburg until the end of the campaign, ‘Bild’ is today suggesting that a transfer could indeed go through in January.

The newspaper claims that if Juventus offered £11m for the 24-year-old and offered him a five-year contract, this would be enough to bag their man.

Juventus are well known to be in the market for a top-class midfielder, following the disappointing form of big money summer signings Sergio Almiron and Tiago Mendes.

Juventus prepares final Van der Vaart bid

The Bianconeri are in the final stages of completing the much touted signing of Van der Vaart from Hamburg, as their representatives are in the German city to meet up with the players' agent and club.

The Old Lady had to accelerate the negotiations due to the fact that other teams are trying to overtake them in the race for his signature, with Inter and Chelsea both in the fray.

Claudio Ranieri would like to have the player already from January in order to help the team in their quest to reach the Champions League, but it is highly unlikely that Hamburg will let their star midfielder leave at this point of the season.

Therefore, Van der Vaart will most likely join Juventus at the end of the season, with the Italian club prepared to make more important purchases during the summer in order to reclaim their throne in Italy.

The 24-year-old is best known from his time at Ajax, when an outstanding young team including the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Christian Chivu reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2003, before being knocked out by a last-minute AC Milan goal.

oh yeh at last some good news. Van der Vaart would fit perfectly in our midfield

According to la Gazzetta dello sport, van der Vaart rejected a contract renew with HSV and now is closer than ever to Juve

I've read of a €17 millions offer by Juve, good buy in the case

van der vaart is the ibrahimovich's rival since when they were in the ajax team, it could be funny to see them play against now

I hope he'll have more luck than the other great rival of Ibra, Mido the man who chased him with a pair of scissors

i bet he was willing to cut Zlatans nose out and then increase the oxygen in the teams restroom

Yes probably

ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC IS A MONSTER

I have a feeling we should look elsewhere than Italy next season to spot van der Vaart