Rafael van der Vaart was presented as the new football player of Betis amid great expectation from the press and fans.

Around 3,000 Betis fans welcomed the Dutch footballer, and the sports director, Eduardo Macià, introduced the player: "I thank Rafael, a club man and a member of the Council. He gave us his word and he has fulfilled it. It must have been the most difficult weeks of his life, he had opportunities to go to other clubs, but he fulfilled and decided on our project. He has personality and character, he is accustomed to pressure. Coming to Betis is a risk due to his career, but he still enjoys playing football. I know he will give his all for Betis."

"Thank you for the words. This is an impressive club, like a family, and I want to fight for it. I am happy. Betis is a great club, and I am glad to come to the best league in the world," replied Van der Vaart, who was asked about his last bad year at Hamburg and being chosen as the 'big disappointment of the year': "I have had two bad years at Hamburg, but I still believe I am a good player. I want to play football, and I really enjoy having the ball. The Kicker survey? I don't care; I have already said that I had a bad year."

The footballer joked about the goals: "What is the project they have offered me? I talked with the coach, and we want to win the league. The most important thing is that people are happy because we play good football. When the club was relegated to the second division, I saw on YouTube that 40,000 fans still came, and that means a lot to a club. This is also a big step in my career."

"I am a different footballer from the one who played for Real Madrid, with more experience because it has been seven years, but basically, I am still the same player. I don't have many contacts with people from Madrid; I do with Sergio Ramos and Iker," said the Dutch player.

"I have a lot of ambition. In football, one day you are the king, and the next day you are the bad guy. I want to return to the Dutch national team; Spain is very important, and I am still 32 years old," said Van der Vaart, who also cares about having his mother's family nearby, in the town of Chiclana: "It's not the most important thing, but it is important. It's nice for my grandfather; he likes football, and my grandmother always happy."

Macià: "Rafael can have a calling effect."

Macià continued to defend the signing, saying that he signed for "three seasons. I know many people talk about the age of players and what a footballer has just done. We have to see what we need for Betis. When we signed Gonzalo Rodríguez, he had hardly played for two years at Fiorentina, and now he is the second-best defender in the Italian league. Rafael, at 32, has extraordinary motivation and a strong personality. We believe he can perform, and time will tell if we are wrong. We do not go beyond the economic parameters that Betis can afford, and he understood this from the beginning. We have been demanding about that."

"We work in harmony with the Council to bring those pieces that allow us to evolve and improve. The project gives us full support, and I am optimistic that the important part of the squad can be with us during the first half of July. We are talking about important players in football, maybe not as much in the media, but the signing of Rafael can have a calling effect," concluded Macià.