And they also acquire his wife WAG Sylvie in the same deal.   Bet we won’t hear her complaining about leaving Germany for Madrid.

DOUBLE UPDATE - Done deal as Real Madrid are set to announce van der Vaart Tuesday morning.

UPDATE - If Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon has his way, van der Vaart will be presented to the Galactico faithful by next week.

It’s believed that Madrid upped it’s original offer to the 10 Million Euro mark and with the teams set to meet in the Emirates Pre-Season Tournament this weekend, Bernd Schuster might very well get his man.

When a player either is within the last six months of his contract OR has a clause in his contract that stipulates that he can move to any club in the world he so chooses for only 1 Million Euro in 12 months, as the Chairman when do you pull the trigger and take as much as you can get?

Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart scored 21 goals in 44 matches last season while leading Hamburg SV to 4th place in the 2007/08 Bundesliga and reaching the round of 16 in the UEFA Cup competition as the teams Captain.

Hamburg sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer has rejected Real Madrid’s 6 Million Euro offer for the 25 year old on the grounds that it was insufficient (by the way, Hamburg paid 5.5 Million Euros to Ajax for his services in the summer of 2005). The problem for Beiersdorfer and the rest of the honchos at Hamburg is the longer they wait, the less money will exchange hands. Yes, Hamburg could accept a higher offer from another club, but if van der Vaart has his sight on Madrid, it will be tough to convince him to agree to personal terms, thus the deal falls through.

Next week Hamburg SV and Real Madrid meet each other in the Emirates Cup Pre-Season Tournament in London, so we could hear just a bit more on this saga.

van der Vaart and Sneijder would be a killer combo at Real Madrid, similar to what they did together at Ajax.

image via DailyMail and Enunbaldosa