Ryan Babel reveals inside story behind Liverpool exit and admits leaving was 'biggest regret' of his career

Playing for Liverpool is one of the highest pinnacles of any footballer’s career.

There are few clubs bigger than the Reds in world football, with the potential to win trophies and become a legend at Anfield a huge pull for anyone.

With Liverpool currently on course for a Premier League title under Arne Slot and looking like one of the best teams in Europe, no player should need a hard sell to join.

However, things were not always like this at Anfield. Rewind 15 years or so, and Liverpool were very much also-rans in the Premier League and on the continent.

It was around this time that Ryan Babel decided he’d prefer to continue his career away from Merseyside.

Having spent three-and-a-half years failing to nail down a place in the team, it was perhaps an understandable decision from Babel. But, more than 14 years on, the Dutchman says he wishes things had turned out differently.

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Ryan Babel reveals Liverpool regret

Babel was a decent player for a Liverpool team who came close to winning the league under Rafa Benitez.

Having arrived from Ajax as a 20-year-old in 2007, it was always going to take the pacy winger some time to settle in.

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Nevertheless, three-and-a-half years on from his signing and having played under three different managers, Babel pushed to go and joined Hoffenheim in January 2011 alongside a certain Roberto Firmino.

But speaking to former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel on The Obi One Podcast, the now 37-year-old has admitted that he really should have been bided his time and given it another go with Liverpool.

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“My biggest regret is leaving Liverpool,” says Babel when asked to name what he regrets most about his playing career.

“I feel like I was not patient. I was frustrated but I had it good, I had a five year contract, I had maybe one and a half years left.”

“I left at a time when Liverpool was changing. [Fernando] Torres left, players left, a new manager came in, so maybe I could have started from zero again, showed myself and maybe changed my Liverpool career.”

Babel explains why he really left Liverpool

As well as explaining the regret behind his decision to leave in 2011, Babel gave some added context as to why he felt the need to move on.

“The reason why I left, I was already at the national team, I was not playing so much and I had pressure from the national team,” he reveals.

Season Apperances Goals Assists 2007/08 43 9 0 2008/09 40 4 3 2009/10 38 6 1 2010/11 17 2 0 Ryan Babel’s Liverpool career 2007-2011

“They were like ‘Ryan, if you don’t find a team where you’re going to play, I’m going to drop you.’ And, I don’t know why, for some reason I was desperate to stay in the national team so I made a desperate move to go to Germany, finding a team where I knew I was going to play every game.

“So I went to Germany, started playing every game and he still dropped me! Then I was 24, six years I was not in the national team and came back when I was 30.”

With Liverpool entering a rebuild phase under Kenny Dalglish at the point Babel left, there’s no guarantee he would have been able to make a go of it even if he had stayed. But given he went on to become a journeyman in the years that followed, we can understand his regret.

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