Ex-Liverpool forward Ryan Babel has blamed his failure to fulfill his potential at Liverpool on the club's patchy training schedule. He left Anfield for German club Hoffenheim in January.
"I think I've really benefited from the move to the Bundesliga," he told Dutch paper De Telegraaf. "We do more preparation work at Hoffenheim than I ever saw in England and we do longer training sessions. I've never felt so fit. You need competition to get fit. I often sat on the bench and the schedule in England, with a game every three days, meant the training was only there to maintain us."
Babel joined LFC from Ajax Amsterdam for £11.5 million ($18.17M) in 2007. He was one of Europe's most highly-touted youth players, after leading the Netherlands to glory in the 2007 European U-21 Championships.
His playing time at Liverpool was sporadic, as he struggled to carve out a place in the plans of three managers. Rafa Benitez, Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish all used him primarily as a substitute. Between July of 2007 and January of 2011, he made 146 appearances for Liverpool (81 of those were as a substitute) and often struggled to make an impact that would earn him more starts. He scored 22 goals at Liverpool before his £6M ($9.5M) move to Hoffenheim.
His explanation for his struggles in English soccer is an interesting one. He came to Anfield with the some of the highest pedigree a young player could have. He was schooled at the famed Ajax Academy and in the Dutch youth national team set-up. He broke into the Ajax first team at 17 and played the better part of three seasons there.
With his combination of natural talent and high-level training, one would expect Babel to be featuring at one of Europe's elite clubs at his current age of 25. Instead he plays at a mid-level first-division team in Germany, and those elite clubs do not seem to be interested in his services at the moment.
Maybe Babel's habits are to blame. Maybe he did not fit into the culture of the club. Have your say below.
Why">http://polldaddy.com/poll/5501096/">Why didn't Ryan Babel make the grade at Liverpool?
