The versatile left-sided player, who can play as a striker or on the flank, earned hi move following an impressive European U21 Championships with eventual victors and hosts Holland.
He dropped down to the U21s for the 2007 tournament despite being capped at senior level. He was part of Marco van Basten's Dutch squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, although he featured only once as a second-half substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
He was also included in Van Basten's squad for Euro 2008 but had to withdraw from the squad after tearing ankle ligaments in training.
Babel made it through a youth selection day at Ajax to join the academy and eventually made his first team debut as a 17-year-old in a 4-0 home win over ADO Den Haag in 2004. He became a regular in 2004/05 and finished the season with 7 league goals in 20 appearances.
The following Eredivisie campaign proved tough for Babel and he ended the 2005/06 season with only two league goals. Although he did score the winner in the Dutch Super Cup and came off the bench to help win the Dutch Cup final.
Babel marked the start of 2006/07 with another Dutch Super Cup winners' medal but once again struggled to find the back of the net, scoring only 5 goals in 27 Eredivisie matches.
Although not prolific during his early career as a professional he was still expected to become an excellent striker. However, his role at Liverpool has been as a lightening-quick left-winger with licence to drift infield.
His made his Reds debut fir the Reds on August 11, 2007 when as a second-half substitute against Aston Villa. The following month he netted his first goal for the club, beating two derby defenders to score at Anfield. He ended the 2007/08 season with 10 goals in 49 appearances.
No comments:
Post a Comment