Tottenham play down van der Vaart rift

Tottenham have played down rumours Rafael van der Vaart is planning to quit the club in January, with Harry Redknapp instead insisting the player is very happy at Tottenham.

There had been reports van der Vaart would quit the club come January.

Transferleaks.com earlier reported that Rafael van der Vaart might be on the way out of Tottenham, after he was disappointed to have been substituted in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal, and for being left out of Tottenham's Europa League squad last month.

But Redknapp rejects the talk.

"Rafa came to see me and said to me he didn't know where all that rubbish came from," Redknapp said. "Rafa is a great lad. I've not got a problem with him. He is a bright, well-mannered, fantastic footballer.

"He played there (on the wing) last year for us, probably seven or eight games and we had some great results. Some of our best results came that way."