Tottenham's Rafael Van der Vaart annoyed by Europa League omission
- Published
Van der Vaart was Tottenham's top goal-scorer last season with 13 goals
Tottenham's Rafael van der Vaart has said he is annoyed at being left out of the club's Europa League squad.
The 28-year-old hobbled off during Spurs' 5-1 defeat to Manchester City and had originally expected to be out for six weeks with a hamstring injury.
But, despite now expecting to be fit for the Liverpool match next week, the omission means the playmaker will miss Spurs' six Europa group matches.
"Spurs could at least have consulted me," he told his official website, external.
In a section headlined "annoying" on his website, the Dutch international said: "I still think it's a peculiar situation.
"Anyway, it's up to the point of no return. I will be focusing on the game against Liverpool.
"I'm pretty convinced I will be fit by then."
The former Real Madrid player missed Holland's Euro 2012 qualifiers and was also sidelined as Harry Redknapp's team secured their first win of the season against Wolves on Saturday.
Redknapp intends to blood a number of youngsters such as Harry Kane, Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore in the Europa League to keep his squad fresh for a top four push in the Premier League.
The Spurs boss denied any rift with Van der Vaart.
"The first diagnosis on Rafa's hamstring was that he would be out for six weeks - at least," he told Sky Sports News.
"Six weeks down the line, he misses the first four games, and we only have six games, so we thought there was not much point putting him in. We might as well put in some of the other lads who can play.
"The game he would have come back for would have been the game out in Russia [versus Rubin Kazan on November 3] and it would have been a long journey for him.
"We thought we'd leave him out and if we get through the group he can come in then."
Spurs kick off their Europa League campaign against PAOK Salonika in Greece on Thursday.
If they get through the group stages, they will be allowed to add three new names to their squad.