Ryan Babel said he wasn’t very happy while he played for Liverpool, but he doesn’t regret choosing to join the team.
The Netherlands player came to play at Anfield from Ajax for £11.5 million in the summer of 2007. He played 146 times for the team over three and a half years. However, he didn’t start many of those games, and his playing time got less and less as time went on.
When Babel joined Liverpool at just 20 years old, he found it disappointing. He suggested that the club didn’t keep their promises, and this made him struggle mentally after joining.
Ryan Babel Opens Up About His Time at Liverpool
“It was a little bit disappointing for myself because when I eventually chose Liverpool, I was promised to get time and was told they would really work with me. But from day one, I was on my own, left to figure stuff out myself and that was very tough.”
“I was 20 years of age, it was my first time living abroad, the first time living by myself because I was still at my parents’ home in Holland. So it was a lot of new challenges that I had to deal with at once. That made it very difficult.” Ryan Babel told the Athletic.
Ryan Babel also talked about feeling unhappy and not being himself at times. He mentioned feeling anxious, and how nowadays, it’s more accepted to support players who are going through tough times. He said that when he started playing, showing weakness was not okay and some people would have given up on you.
However, despite these challenges, Babel doesn’t regret joining Liverpool, even though he would have liked to join Arsenal instead back then.
“The rumours surrounding myself and Arsenal were exactly that; just rumours, We never actually spoke directly with the club, unfortunately, because that would’ve been my wish, naturally, as an Arsenal supporter.” he exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone
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