It turns out the Eredivisie’s most vocal pundit isn’t vocal enough.
Rafael van der Vaart makes headlines like they’re going out of business, but it’s still not reached the young generation in the Netherlands.
19-year-old Artem Stepanov is one of those not aware of the retired midfielder when he got a namecheck after his latest performance.
The Ukrainian ‘next Erling Haaland’ has been in fine form for Utrecht on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.
With five goals in five games, he was asked post-match if he knew the last player to do so at such a young age, and was told it was Van der Vaart.
“I don’t know these people, huh?” he replied. “No, no, no. I don’t know.”
When told ‘VDV’ scored seven in a row at 18, he replied: “Then I will try to break this record, I must [score against Feyenoord].”
Asked if he’ll do some Van der Vaart research, he responded: “I will go to my bed and I will watch!”
Van der Vaart is regularly making bad headlines, most recently with a racist trope about Korean players at the World Cup.
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