Liverpool FC player profile - Ryan Babel

Ryan Guno Babel more commonly known as simply Ryan Babel, Liverpool and Holland striker, was born on 19th December 1986 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. As an 11 year old Ryan Babel joined the Ajax (of Amsterdam) youth team and played through their youth squad ranks until signing his first professional contract in 2004. Ryan Babel didn't have to wait long for his Ajax first team debut when on 1st February 2004 he featured in a match against ADO Den Haag, which Ajax won 4-0. Ajax went on to win the Dutch league title in that 2003/04 season however Ryan Babel did not make any further appearances during that particular campaign. The next milestone for the professional career of Ryan Babel came in the following season on 20th November 2004 when he scored his first senior goal for Ajax in a 5-0 victory over De Graafscap. During the 2004/05 season he made 20 league appearances for Ajax and scored 7 goals.

in 2005 Ryan Babel represented his country for the first time coming on as a substitute and scoring in a match that Holland won 2-0 against Romania. At the end of the 2006 season Ryan Babel was selected for the Dutch squad for the Germany 2006 World Cup finals, but, injury meant he made only one appearance in the tournament (Holland were eliminated by Portugal in the Round of 16). It was in the following year, during the 2006/07 league season, that the first signs that Ryan Babel's future was destined to be outside of Dutch football appeared. In January 2007 he was linked with both Arsenal and Newcastle United of the English Premier League but instead Ryan Babel agreed a new three year contract with Ajax. At the end of the 2006/07 season speculation about the future of Ryan Babel arose once again, this time though the reports were credible and, on 13th July 2007, Liverpool FC unveiled another of their latest aquisitions, Ryan Babel, signed from Ajax for a reported fee of around £11.5 million.

Ryan Babel featured for Liverpool FC immediately coming on as a substitute in their first Premier League match of the 2007/08 season against Aston Villa, his first goal came a few weeks later in a match against Derby County.