Hamburg falls out of love with celebrity player

A smooth pre-season build-up was followed by a victory at Hanover in the Bundesliga opener.

 After last season's relegation tussle, the long list of injuries and sacking of coach Thomas Doll there was every reason for optimism that better times were on the way.

 A few days has changed all that. The club has now been rocked by captain Rafael van der Vaart's demand to leave immediately for Valencia.

 The 24-year-old Dutch midfielder, the key player in the team, has amazed and angered fans with the vehemence of his wishes with the season only just started.

 Van der Vaart not only has a contract with Hamburg until 2010 he had always given everyone the impression he had ambitions to win the Bundesliga with the team he joined two years ago.

 Indeed, he and his top model wife Sylvie have been very much the celebrity couple in the Bundesliga. The player and Sylvie - a former MTV presenter in the Netherlands - have never tired of saying how much they feel at home in the northern German city.

 Now Hamburg fans have turned against the man they had idolized. Even in today's big-money game where loyalty seems to count for little, van der Vaart's sudden desire to leave has come as a shock.

 The Hamburg press is full of readers' letters castigating the player for being a "mercenary" and a "traitor" who, it now turns out, seems to care little for the club or its fans.

 Van der Vaart for his part has always said he would like to move to Spain at some time in his playing career if he received an offer from a top team. He has accused the club of arrogance for - so far - failing to agree to his request to leave with immediate effect.

 "My dream has been destroyed," he said at the beginning of the week. "I was promised that the club would consider such an offer. But the club turned it down immediately. It's almost arrogant."

   However, commentators have little understanding for van der Vaart. Valencia are hardly the top club they thought the player had in mind, nor is the 14-million-euro (18.8 million dollars) offer particularly attractive for a player probably worth a lot more for Hamburg.

 The saga took literally a new twist ahead of Thursday's UEFA Cup match at Honved Budapest when van der Vaart apparently twisted his back lifting up his 14-month-old son Damian at home.

 The injury - or alleged injury - made him unable to play in Hamburg's 0-0 draw in Hungary - but, of course, still able to play for Valencia in European competition should the transfer to the Spanish club go through.

 That still remains the big question. Valencia's offer has been rejected outright by Hamburg who confirmed Friday they had written to Valencia warning the club to refrain from making any further approaches.

 A copy of the letter has been sent FIFA as Hamburg would like football's world governing body to intervene should the Spanish club breach FIFA statutes forbidding rival clubs from instigating any action leading to a player breaking a contract.

 Meanwhile, according to the mass circulation Bild newspaper, Sylvie van der Vaart says she now fears for the safety of her son after the player's management began receiving hate mail.

 The attractive model was also seen as closely linked to Hamburg, especially after being launched as this year's cover girl for the Hamburg-based OTTO mail order giant.

 Hamburg's love affair with the celebrity couple now appears to be over. Van der Vaart can expect a rough reception when Hamburg play Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday - if Dutch coach Huub Stevens picks him.

 Many fans - and most press commentators - would like to see the player stripped of the captaincy and banished to the stands where his wife usually sits at every home match. However, Sylvie won't - for the first time - be attending the game, reports Bild.

DPA