Ryan Babel explains why he flopped at Liverpool | OneFootball

Ryan Babel believes one of the reasons he failed to cut the mustard at Liverpool was because other players with greater “commercial appeal” kept him out of the team.

Babel joined the Reds from Ajax in 2007 and made 146 appearances over four years for the club before leaving to join Hoffenheim in 2011.

The Dutchman recently returned to the Premier League when he joined Fulham on a short-term deal from Beşiktaş and he has reflected on what went wrong during his underwhelming Anfield career.

“There were situations in my career where I played much better than another player in my position, but that player had a better name in terms of commercial appeal,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.

“At that time, I didn’t really take it seriously, I thought it was just about who was training better, and the manager told me ‘We have to play him, because of this reason’.

“That was a big slap in the face to understand and think you need to be a little more lucky to survive in football. I guess it is what it is, but if you know that up front, you can make better decisions by knowing not to join certain teams.”

And Babel says if he could go back in time, there are a few things he would have done differently about his spell on Merseyside.

“There are things I would have done differently. I remember my parents asking me if they needed to join me and I said I could handle it – maybe that would have made a major difference, to have them around and give you a transition into living by yourself,” he said.

“I still think I had it in me, but it was a matter of guidance – someone to tell me sometimes to step it up, or to explain to me to do things a bit smarter. I had nobody at that time, and had to figure it out myself. That’s hard if you are going abroad for the first time.”