Babel: I Had A Tough Time At Liverpool

By Joshua Walters

Former Liverpool winger Ryan Babel has revealed that he felt like ‘a ghost’ at Liverpool as he was treated badly by some managers he worked with during his spell at the Anfield club.

Babel said the treatment he received from the former Reds gaffers as a young player did not help him improve as he played under Rafael Benitez while pointed accusing fingers at Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish.

“Nobody spoke to me, I felt like a ghost, they walked through me like I didn’t exist, it was very tough.

Babel claimed thatLiverpool's only interest was only about winning regardless of how it came or who engineered it.

“When I came to Liverpool I quickly found out it was about winning and not so much about how you were winning.

“At Ajax, it is almost more important how you play rather than winning. You needed to win but the emphasis was on how you won.

“I remember with the Ajax first team winning games 2-0, and at the end of the match the whole crowd was whistling at us.”

Babel later stressed that though he had a struggling moment at the club, he has no regrets about his Anfield days which he is pleased to have played with great players.

“I thought ‘f***ing hell’,” he recalled of his industrious ex-colleague. 

“I learned a lot from the likes of Steven Gerrard and we had a lot of mature guys, like Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres.

“I learned it’s easier to play against a top side. As a winger against a lesser side, you have less space so how, as a winger, are you going to make a good game if constantly against three men?”

Babel joined Liverpool from Netherlands giants Ajax for a fee in the region of £11.5 million signing a five-year contract where he scored 22 goals in 146 appearances after three-and-a-half seasons.