Tottenham playmaker heading to Barça?

Spurs midfielder Rafael van der Vaart

There have been reports this week that Spurs midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is a shock transfer target for Barcelona. The Dutchmen has been very impressive during his short stint at Tottenham and Pep Guardiola could be tempted to purchase the 28 year old as a reinforcement to his midfield.

This season Barcelona have been criticised for becoming too predictable and have dropped points in games where they were heavy favourites. One problem is teams are realising that a mixture of parking the bus and counter attacking football is enough to get a result against the Champions.

Van der Vaart though could be the answer to the problem. The hardened midfielder has the ability to break down a defence and create chances for his team, a quality Guardiola would idolise. Although Barcelona currently have the best midfield in the world, it is not the most physically tough and van der Vaart would bring strength into the midfield three.

The Dutchmen can also act as a centre-forward, again allowing Guardiola to change from the usual 4-3-3 to a more direct 4-1-2-1-2 and throw the park-the-bus game plan out of the window. A formation Harry Redknapp has often used this season to good effect.

But the playmaker does come with an unconvincing injury record. Van der Vaart has often missed large parts of a season due to a recurrence of a hamstring injury. Guardiola will be wary of the damage when one of your stars is ruled out to the sidelines and this may convince him to save his budget.

Van der Vaart also has a quality very concerning for a lot of Barça fans. He used to play for Real Madrid. The Dutchmen spent three years at the Spanish giants and was present when Madrid won the title by beating Barcelona. An accolade that many Cules will still hold against him.

The player himself may not be persuaded to join the current European champions as well. He has often spoken out about his love for Tottenham and with the London side performing very impressively this season it is understandable that "VDV" may prefer his life in England. But his allegiance may sway if other big names such as Luka Modrić and Gareth Bale were sold.

All of this speculation will have to wait till summer before any real transfer talk happens. For now Barcelona need to work with the current squad and focus on retaining their La Liga title. Meanwhile van der Vaart is working hard to maintain fitness and help Spurs push for the Premier League title.