Van der Vaart, deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu, told De Telegraaf: “Four years at Spurs, for €11m, I can hardly believe it myself.

“The interest from Tottenham came very quick and I did not have much time to think.

“But I want to play football again and if possible every week, with a beautiful club. I’m totally happy.

“I am excited about playing in England. Whether it suits my style remains to be seen, but I think a good footballer can adapt and I am very proud of this transfer.”

Spurs had been sweating on clearance to bring the Holland midfielder to White Hart Lane after technical difficulties hampered their efforts to submit the relevant paperwork for the signing before Tuesday’s 6pm transfer deadline.

But after investigating the club’s claims that there were difficulties involving computer servers used in the transaction between themselves and Real, the Premier League yesterday ratified the move.

That allowed Tottenham to announce the signing less than two hours before top-flight clubs had to submit their 25-man squads for the first half of the league season.

Manager Harry Redknapp had claimed Van der Vaart had been set to join Bayern Munich for £18million on Monday until the move broke down.

However, that was categorically denied yesterday by Real, with sports director Miguel Pardeza telling his club’s website, realmadrid.com: “It is absolutely false that Real Madrid received a 21million euro offer from Bayern Munich for Van der Vaart.

“In fact, the German team never showed an interest to sign the player, so the allegations made in England have greatly surprised us.”

Van der Vaart helped Holland reach this summer’s World Cup final but struggled to establish himself at Real after joining them two years ago.

The midfielder came through the ranks at Ajax and won two league titles before moving to Hamburg in 2005.

He was the Bundesliga side’s leading scorer in his first season and went on to captain them before joining Real.

He has won 83 caps for Holland, scoring 16 goals and representing his country at two European Championships and two World Cups.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Woodgate failed to make Tottenham’s 25-man squad yesterday.

Redknapp decided to omit the injury-plagued defender, who he recently revealed was fighting to save his career.

Also left out was goalkeeper Ben Alnwick, with new loan signing Stipe Pletikosa now providing back-up to Heurelho Gomes and Carlo Cudicini.