Van der Haar to lead Utrecht attack

Dutch Cup winners FC Utrecht have signed De Graafschap striker Hans van der Haar on a four-year contract.

UEFA Cup place
Utrecht, who will play in next season's UEFA Cup after their 4-1 victory over Feyenoord in the cup final, have already sold two strikers since the end of the season. Igor Glušcevic has signed a three-year deal with Czech side AC Sparta Praha, while Dirk Kuijt has joined Feyenoord.

Financial details
Van der Haar, who scored eleven goals in 33 appearances last term but was unable to stop his club finishing bottom of the Eredivisie, still had one more year to serve at De Graafschap and the two clubs are yet to reveal the financial details of the deal. Utrecht technical manager Han Berger said: "When you have to let two such class attackers go, that is a real loss of quality for the team".

'Physically strong'
"Therefore, we always said that we had to sign a new striker," he added. "One who has proven himself already at the highest level to deal with this heavy legacy. We are convinced that with Van der Haar we found such a striker. He is the kind of striker that fits in well with our other players and our playing style. He is physically strong, and is a good target man up front, who is strong on the ball".

Two spells
The 28-year-old Amersfoort-born forward began his career with HFC Haarlem in 1994/95, before moving to De Graafshap two seasons later. Spells in Germany - with KFC Uerdingen and SSV Ulm 1846 - and a season with Austrian side Schwarz-Weiss Bregenz followed before he returned to De Graafschap during the 2001/02 campaign.