Rafael Van der Vaart has hit out at former club Real Betis and maintained his failure at the club in the 2015-16 season was not his fault.
The former Dutch international joined the Andalucians from Bundesliga side Hamburg in the summer of 2015 but made only nine appearances for the club, scoring no goals and registering no assists before being moved on to Danish side Midtjylland.
“I barely played during my year at Betis, but when I was at 100 percent, I was the best player on the pitch,” Van der Vaart, who is still having 40% of his wages paid by Los Verdiblancos, told De Telegraaf.
“I was able to play the full 90 minutes on occasion, but I was out of out of favour at the time. It had nothing to do with my physical state.
“I looked at myself in the mirror and I asked myself: ‘what have I done wrong?’ I couldn’t find the answer.
“One time, I trained well all week, but still couldn’t force my way in to the team. It was stressful, and I thought: ‘the best thing is to say goodbye’.”