Casuals always trot out this nonsense, the VDV you're thinking of was way back in 2006. He isn't same player anymore.
The VDV I'm thinking was taking the field for Real Madrid last season, where he was better than Kaká for them. Certainly he needs somebody else to do the grunt work, but he's a top quality AM.
Another quality player Real Madrid have just wasted, much like they did with Robben and Sneijder. I will never understand how a club like Madrid works; seems like all they do year in year out is spend a huge amount only to move sideways in terms of quality in their squad..