English Premier League - Player Profile: Ryan Babel
Ryan Babel is a Dutch international footballer, who currently plays for Liverpool F.C in the English Premier League. Babel was born on the 19th of December 1986 and he grew up in Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Since his childhood, Babel was interested in football and wanted to pursue a career in professional sports.
His first amateur youth club sides included S.V Diemen and Fortius. Babel stated in an interview which was conducted earlier on in his career that, he was inspired to be a footballer because of players like Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. In 1997, Babel auditioned at the famous AFC Ajax Amsterdam youth academy and he was selected in the first selection round but failed to make it past that stage of the process.
However the next year in 1998, Ajax selected the youngster and Ryan played for them in the 1998-1999 season for their D1 team. In the following years, Babel progressed through Ajax’s youth academy’s stages such as C1, B1, and A1. In winter of 2004, Ryan signed his first professional contract with Ajax and became a part of their integral club first team squad.
Ryan Babel played as a striker in the early part of his career and on the 1st of February, 2004 just one and a half month after his seventeenth birthday, Ajax’s manager Ronald Koeman gave the Dutch striker an opportunity to showcase his talent in Ajax’s four goals to nil home win over Den Haag in an Eredivisie encounter. In the 2003-2004 season with Babel making sporadic appearances for them, Ajax won the Dutch football league. However, nine months later in the month of November, Ryan scored his first senior level first team goal for Ajax Amsterdam against Graafschap in a five goals to nil victory for Dutch giants.
In the summer of 2005, Babel signed an improved contract with his childhood club, Ajax and he started the new league season for them by scoring the winning goal against PSV Eindhoven in a Dutch Super Cup match. Later on Babel made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League competition and scored in both legs of the third qualification round match against Brondby. Regardless of his contribution to the squad, Ajax only made it till the group stages of the European Cup. The 2005-2006 season was a terrible one for Babel as he only scored two league goals for Ajax but as every cloud has a silver lining; Babel was selected for the national team squad for a friendly match against Italy in November 2005. At the end of the season, before the summer started in 2006, Ajax still went on to win the Dutch Cup final against PSV Eindhoven.
Ryan again started the 2006-2007 season in style as Ajax won another Dutch Super Cup as Ajax Amsterdam defeated PSV by three goals to one. However, transfer speculation soon followed Babel’s impressive displays for Ajax, as European giants such as Arsenal and Liverpool became interested in the striker. In February of 2007, Babel signed a new three year contract with Ajax Amsterdam but in the summer of 2007, Ryan was subject of a fourteen million pound move to Liverpool F.C in England. Ajax accepted Liverpool’s bid for their youthful forward and as a result Babel signed five year contract with the Merseyside reds on 13th of July, 2007.
The Dutch teenage sensation made his Premier League debut for Liverpool in a season opening match against Aston Villa. During the match, Babel made a substitute appearance. Seven days later, Ryan featured in his first home match of the season at Anfield as he came on as a substitute against Chelsea F.C. On 1st of September, Babel scored his first goal for Liverpool in a match against Derby County, shortly after on 6th of November, Ryan scored in the UEFA Champions League against Besiktas in the group stages of the competition.
Babel has had a fall in form ever since his move to Liverpool, the main reason for his lack of performances in England has been, the shortage of first team football that he has faced ever since his transfer from Holland. Babel featured in the Dutch national team squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup but didn’t make much of an impact as the men in orange lost the final match of the tournament to Spain.
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