Real Madrid's Dutch midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart said on Monday that he expects to leave the club before the end of the summer. Van der Vaart joined Real Madrid from Hamburg a year ago, but struggled to win a regular first team place and after the arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Esteban Granero and Karim Benzema, he looks to have no place in the plans of new coach Manuel Pellegrini.
Pellegrini left him out of the squad to play the Peace Cup and the club wants to recover some of the 13 million euros it spent on him to finance further new arrivals, such as possibly Liverpool's midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Speaking in German paper De Telegraf, Van der Vaart admitted time was running out for him in Spain.
"The coach has told me that in principal I am going to be on the substitutes' bench. There is no reason for me to stay at the club," he said, highlighting the importance of playing first team football in a season that ends with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"The important thing for me now is to play regularly, I don't want to lose my place in the Dutch national team to go to South Africa," commented the midfielder.
However, Van der Vaart added that he could be left waiting for a move as clubs interested in signing him refuse to meet Real Madrid's asking price.
"Real Madrid wants to recover the money they paid for me, but I understand that any club who is interested in signing me is not going to be pressured," said Van der Vaart, who does not expect Real Madrid to get back the 13 million euros they originally paid.
"The clubs who want to buy me are waiting for Madrid to drop the price,” he added.
Real Madrid has offloaded four players this summer. Gabriel Heinze, Javier Saviola, Dani Parejo and Javi Garcia have brought in a reported 12 million euros between the four.
Meanwhile Madrid still wants to sell the Dutch quintet of Van der Vaart, Arjen Robben, Royston Drenthe, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Wesley Sneijder.