Liverpool’s Dangerous Dutch Diamond

As Lucas sprays the ball wide right, Babel drifts offside, before checking his run and ducking back behind his Besiktas defender. Benayoun picks up the ball and crosses it in low and slightly behind Babel, who has found a little bit of room, but not enough to trap and turn. Instead he lets the ball zip between his legs before poking it past the sprawling ‘keeper with his right heel. Liverpool, and new star Babel, were on their way to a Champion’s League record win and the consequent clamouring of the media around the Dutchman.

Ryan Babel moved to Liverpool FC July 13th, 2007 still a 20 year old, but much older in experience. He made his first team debut for Dutch giants AFC Ajax at 17, and by the next season was starting consistently. He made his international debut for Holland at 18, marking the occasion with a goal. Rafa Benitez put in a sly bid this summer to add further firepower to his squad.

Babel cost £11,500,000, making him Liverpool’s third most expensive purchase behind fellow summer signing Fernando Torres and French flop Djibril Cisse.

The move prompted Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish to say, “He will terrify players in the Premier League now, I hope. He’s quick, strong and you can’t guess what he’s going to do next because he’s a bag of tricks.”

Throughout his Ajax career, Babel was linked with Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is a known admirer and tipped him for stardom at a young age. Arsenal never seemed to get around to actually bidding, despite a constant flurry of press speculation, and Liverpool came up with the starlet.

On choosing Liverpool, Babel said, “I listened to what they had to say and I got a great feeling about the club. I have made a choice with my heart. The coach has big plans for me.” He admits that lining up alongside big names such as the new signing of Torres and local hero Steven Gerrard helped persuade him to come, but they weren’t the deciding factor. “I want to win silverware,” Babel said. “That’s why I have joined this great club.”

Before making the move, Babel played for Holland at the UEFA Under-21 Championship in June. He was part of an exciting team continuing in the tradition of total football, with an emphasis on tearing other teams apart. They stormed to the final, and Babel claimed the Man of the Match award and the two first goals as Holland defeated Serbia 4-1 to lift the title.

Having already selected him for the 2006 World Cup and other full international games, Dutch manager Marco van Basten called him “the new Thierry Henry.”

The similarities are evident. Both are tall, pacey, play on the left side of the forward line, and like to score by cutting in onto the preferred right foot.

Like Henry, Babel is now finding it difficult to adjust to the premier league and a new position. Ajax and Holland played a 4-3-3, with Babel on the left side of the attacking trio. At Liverpool, Babel, aside from the odd striker role, has been deployed on the left side of a 4-4-2.

Babel himself seems optimistic about the role shift. “We play compact as a team and must be on the move constantly, closing down opponents all over the park. I must provide cover for the left-back. But I never shirk my duties any more and nobody will ever catch me napping.”

Liverpool fans, on the other hand, prefer him up-front. His best games have come either as a striker or given a free role, usually at the end of games when tactics have loosed up.

“I’ve said that my favourite position is as a striker,” said Babel.

Looking at his competition, aside from Torres, Babel offers the most unpredictability. He has the ability to change a game in an instant, to burst into space and score game-changing goals. Peter Crouch, Dirk Kuyt, and especially the poor Andriy Voronin have looked stale this season, simply going through the motions or more eager to drop back into ineffective midfield roles.

Even Benitez, when describing Babel’s characteristics, seems to be describing a forward. “He likes to dribble and he likes to shoot. He has pace and power and he knows how to use his strengths and he will be important for us in the future.”

Besides defending, another flaw to Babel’s game seems to be his confidence. Ajax fans noted before the transfer that if Babel doesn’t do something exciting within the first fifteen or so minutes, he can go missing for the entire game. That, coupled with Babel’s best moments coming at the end of games which have already been won, indicates that either he doesn’t keep a steady level of confidence or is finding the tight marking of the Premier League hard to deal with.

Now only 21, Babel has plenty of time to work on his shortcomings. He’s keeping a level head, and is quite mentally composed for someone so young.

“My target for this season is mainly to keep learning, know about England, know about the Premier League and know about the game here,” he said.

The ability and mental fortitude are there for Babel to soon explode as one of Liverpool’s true stars and future legends.

By Zac Lee Rigg