Rafael Van der Vaart's red card shows how much he wants to be a winner

That night, those fans were convinced the club's latest signing — who honed his skills while living in a caravan park — would become one of the club greats.

It did not matter to them that Rafael van der Vaart had missed a penalty and been sent off in the Champions League tie against FC Twente.

He had also scored an excellent goal and displayed such skill and appetite that the supporters were convinced they had a player to idolise in the way they had Jurgen Klinsmann and David Ginola.

For other Spurs supporters, though, the glass was half-empty. Yes, Van der Vaart's talent and charisma had shone throughout and lifted his team-mates but the needless challenge that earned him a second booking early in the second half seemed to reveal a footballer playing too close to the edge.

They wondered whether Real Madrid had sold Van der Vaart for only £8million because of this apparent flaw in his temperament. Had Spurs bought a player with the flair of Ginola but also with the Frenchman's tendency to blow a fuse?

Yet for those who have followed both Van der Vaart's early career and his time in Madrid, he will not lose his composure regularly. Friends in Holland and Spain attribute the 27-year-old's poor judgment against Twente to his fierce desire to succeed, rather than to a petulant nature.

Van der Vaart's Spurs career is only six games old, so it is too early to evaluate his temperament properly. As he prepares to play his seventh against Fulham tomorrow, though, it is fair to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"It was really extraordinary because I have never seen him red-carded before," said the player's biographer and close friend Mark van den Heuvel, who has known the Dutchman since he was 16.

"It was a bit wild and silly but it was just a case of Rafael wanting to prove himself. It's not a case of a suspect temperament."

Another acquaintance, a Madrid-based journalist, agreed. "He is just not that kind of player. The news of what happened against Twente came as a surprise to everyone in Spain. I'm sure it was just due to over-enthusiasm.

"People at Madrid were very sorry to see him go. They liked the way he played and he was very popular with the other players: a no-nonsense character. Even though he had a stop-start career at Madrid, when he did get a chance, he would step in and play as though he had been in the team for weeks.

"Last summer, Mesut Ozil and Sergio Canales joined Madrid, so Rafael thought there would not be room for him. But during his two years he scored goals, made goals and gave 100 per cent . . . so Madrid sold him!"

In leaving the Bernabeu for north London, Van der Vaart allowed his head to rule his heart. There is a strong Spanish influence in the family: his mother, Lolita, and her parents, Rafael and Dolores, are Spanish and lived in Cadiz,
Andalusia, before they emigrated to Holland.

Because of this, Van der Vaart understood Spanish — even though he was too shy to speak the language as a boy — and had always wanted to succeed in Spain.

Both his father, Ramon, a striker, and younger brother, Fernando, played football and have represented De Kennemers, a small club in Heemskerk near Amsterdam, but neither was able to make the same progress as Rafael. Ramon and Lolita raised the family on a caravan park near Beverwijk but their son was on Ajax's radar from the age of 10, after he had impressed coaches at an open day.

"As soon as Rafael could walk he was running around with a ball. I encouraged it," said Ramon.

"He liked it so much and we played a lot together. I soon found out that he was born with an amazing talent and a cultured left foot, with which he could shoot with accuracy and power. We were very proud when Ajax decided he was good enough to join them."

Since he joined Ajax, Van der Vaart has spent his career surprising people. When he was given his first professional contract aged 16, first-team football appeared a distant target but Van der Vaart's talent was so prominent that he made his debut almost immediately, against FC Den Bosch in April 2000.

Five years later, Europe's best teams were chasing Van der Vaart but he chose to move to SV Hamburg, a less prestigious club than Ajax. Yet Van der Vaart and his wife Sylvie, whom he married in 2005, felt instantly at home in the German port and the move did not damage his career because Van der Vaart joined Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer of 2008.

At this stage, the Tottenham deal looks a superb investment for both parties. Spurs get a genuinely world-class player; Van der Vaart a stage he can dominate.