Position: Winger Squad number: 19 Date of birth: 19.12.86 Birth place: Amsterdam, Netherlands Former clubs: AFC Ajax Transfer fee: £11.5m
Dutch winger Ryan Babel joined the Reds from giants Ajax in July 2007 for a fee of around £11.5m.
The Dutch international has signed a five-year deal with Liverpool, which should keep him at Anfield until 2012. Babel is a product of Ajax’s youth programme, signing for the club after trials in 1998.
As well as being an able, quick player on both wings, Babel can also be deployed as a striker. Dutch coach Marco van Basten has compared him to Thierry Henry.
Debuting for Holland at under-21 level in 2005, Babel was soon promoted to the full international side, making his debut against Romania. Babel grabbed the second goal in a 2-0 win, making him the youngest Dutchman to score in an international in almost seventy years.
Babel is an international regular, featuring in the side which competed in the 2006 World Cup and as part of the Dutch side which won the UEFA under-21 European Championships.
Ryan Babel’s Liverpool debut came against Aston Villa on the 11th of August 2007, where he came on as a second half substitute. Babel put his first mark on the score sheet when he put one past a hapless Derby defence in Liverpool’s 6-0 crushing of the side.
