It could be a sense of desperation.

It could be that the team is not giving their players any time to adapt to a new league or team.

It could be those 12 points that they trail Barcelona and the fact that they are now behind Atlético in the standings.

Whatever you want to call it, Real Madrid has decided in less than a half a season that Rafael Van der Vaart has been a flop and the Madrid brass are looking to dump him already.  After his much-ballyhooed transfer from Hamburg to Valdebebas, things haven’t seemed to work out.There was going to be a player (or players) that were going to be looked at when Juande Ramos stepped in last week.  Now in January many Spaniards will switch their George Bush countdown clocks for a Rafael van der Vaart one- at least Pedja Mijatovic will.  According to Real Madrid’s mouthpiece, that seems to be the case.  The Madrid sports director will start listening to any offers that are made for the Dutchman come next summer.

VDV’s stats are not impressive in the 14 matches he’s played in.  Four goals in would be impressive, but that’s when stats lie!!!!!  He had a hat-trick in their early season 7-1 demolition of Sporting Gijón that included a heel-kick goal that made a brittle Alfredo DiStefano stand up and cheer.  The Madrid faithful were watching their next idol incarnate- or so they thought.  They depended on him to be that big playmaker, but the only thing he has shown off consistently is his wife (I would,too).

For many, it seemed to be the rise and quick fall of the Dutch international.  Since then, he is scoreless and has not played a full match albeit playing 90 minutes in their Copa del Rey debacle against Real Unión.   That was last time that he was a starter.

The end seemed to come quick for Van der Vaart as Bernd Schuster could not get rid of him.   Behind that rocket shot he posseses and incredible talent, there was a great deal of luggage he carried.  Van der Vaart came to Madrid out of shape and overweight He was one of the main people behind the Dutchman coming from Germany.  The problem was the he was not the solution to the club’s crisis.  Their lack of faith in the former Ajax man was so evident in El Derbi, that Ramos decided to go with youth player Palanca instead of him when Wesley Sneijder left the Camp Nou with an injury.

This might be the first of many transfers that will take place in the 2009 calendar year.  Van der Vaart might have been the poster boy for Madrid’s shortcomings, but there is a great deal of unfairness in that statement-regardless of the angle you go with. There are other problems at Madrid that go beyond one player.  Obviously, the Madrid brass saw him as the difference-maker.  He was the only egg in their proverbial transfer basket.  He mentioned the other day that he was willing to fight for his spot.  But how much is reality and how much is rhetoric?

So Calderón, if you do sell VDV, please do not let his wife go!!!!