Ryan Babel is a Dutch professional footballer who currently plays for the Turkish Super Lig club Kasimpasa as well as the Netherlands national team as a winger or a second striker. Babel spent six years at Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam where he was one the stars of their fabled youth academy and quickly made the progression into the senior squad in 2004, scoring 14 goals in 73 league appearances for the club.
This performance brought the youngster to the attention of several European heavyweights and ultimately, Liverpool won the battle for his signature as they paid a £ 11.5 million transfer fee to bring the 21 year old to England to partner Fernando Torres upfront. His spell at Liverpool, however, proved to be a lot less successful as he spent four years at the club, playing 91 matches and scoring just 12 goals for the club.
This came in spite of Ryan Babel being given a vote of confidence by Liverpool and Celtic legend Kenny Dalglish who stated that the player has the ability to terrorize and outrun any defender in the Premier League. After his horror spell in the Premier League for the club, Liverpool sold the Dutchman to TSV Hoffenheim 1899 who paid a transfer fee reported to be in the region of £ 8 million as he signed on to a two and a half year deal.
However, he failed to make a mark for the German club and having been there for 18 months, was released from his contract.
The free agent was snapped up by Ajax Amsterdam as Ryan Babel returned to his spiritual home but he couldn’t repeat the exploits of his first stint at the club and was not handed a new contract, meaning he was free to move to his present club.