Van der Vaart, 27, was set to sign for Bayern Munich on Monday but when that deal fell through, Tottenham made an audacious approach and were last night awaiting confirmation from the Premier League that all relevant documents, including proof that they had beaten the 6pm deadline, had been received.
Last season Redknapp, the Spurs manager, beat the January deadline by seconds to sign Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar and managed to brighten an otherwise dour final day of trading, with a deal in the region of £8 million agreed for the former Ajax and Hamburg player, who is eligible for Spurs’ Champions League campaign.
Redknapp said: “He was going to Bayern Munich for £18 million and suddenly he became an awful lot cheaper. The chairman came on to me and said 'look, he’s available now, for about £8 million.’
“The fee came crashing down because the deadline got close. He’s a quality player, a Dutch international, a great footballer and for that sort of money he’s a top player and he would certainly improve us, for sure so we made the effort.
“It was only when the chairman rang me about 4 o’clock and said there was an opportunity, I said that he wanted to have a go let’s crack on and see if we can pull it off.”
