Top 60 Ryan Babel Quotes

Playing as a striker is a nice role because I spent all my youth there so that’s why I like it.

Those types of players are always necessary in a team, who are very creative and can break a game open.

A lot of people talked down about my career at some point, which makes sense.

For every player it’s nice to go to the World Cup and it’s very important to do that in your career.

I was 20 years old went I went to the Premier League. When you are 20, you need from other people, you need people to talk to you. But when I went over there, nobody helped me.

To be a supersub is mentally hard.

Music has always been an important part of my life.

If there isn’t a team that plays my type of game I don’t think I could make a big difference. I have to be realistic.

I went to the UAE aged 28, which normally doesn’t make sense to go at that age.

Rafa Benitez promised me a certain development, but very quickly he took away that promise and it was a totally different situation.

Before I take an offer seriously, I do my own research.

When I left Liverpool, I could have stayed in England but that would have meant joining clubs that didn’t play football – just a long-ball game.

My parents were very strict and had rules for me and, if ever I was playing outside, I always had a set time to come back in.

Some people think they do it all by themselves but I believe there is more to it. I believe it is God who has given me the talent and the opportunity to be successful.

They used to have selection days for all the local kids and I went to these trials three times and got turned down every time. On the third time I was so upset because I thought I was not good enough. I was eight years old and I had the feeling, ‘That’s it, I don’t want to play for Ajax any more!’

I don’t go to church every week.

In the English 4-4-2 you have to change your mentality from a winger to a left midfielder, having to help your full-back.

Liverpool are a very good team everybody knows that and I am proud to be part of Liverpool.

We can’t all be Lionel Messi, even if we want to.

Liverpool is my club. I try to follow every game. I still support them, I wish them all the best.

I do have a weakness for Liverpool and I do want them to be champions.

The striker role, together with someone else, is pretty good for me.

I feel confident that I’m good enough to play a lot of games for Liverpool.

I’m not really making decisions that people normally expect.

I was only used to 4-3-3. For me as a left-winger you have also a left midfielder and a left-back behind you. But in a 4-4-2 you are basically also the left midfielder so you have to help more in defence and I wasn’t used to that.

I have played for Ajax, Liverpool and Besiktas in Turkey – all massive clubs in Europe.

America has always been a special place for me, since my youth.

I liked mostly to play football on the ground and have a little bit of playing tactics rather than just up and down, long balls and second balls. That’s not really my game.

I came from Ajax where you play 4-3-3 and as a winger they didn’t want you to defend.

I’m not the type of player who gives up.

I would be so proud to finish my career with a European medal.

I think the 20-year-old me from that time, if I could have been managed under Jurgen Klopp, I’d have benefitted.

It doesn’t annoy me that I always get asked about my future.

For a lot of different reasons I didn’t fulfil my potential.

A lot of things that were written about me bothered me, like my mentality was not good.

I still believe I can be a striker but, if you want to be a striker, you have to think more about yourself and that’s why you are a striker.

I’ve tried to work as hard as possible.

I do think I have a thing or two to improve myself although it is difficult to reach your full potential at an average team.

Nobody likes me. I know that the Holland boss, Ronald Koeman, appreciates me. But for pundits, TV commentators and in the media, I don’t even exist.

I tried to go to places I’d enjoy playing.

For a 20 year old the gap from Holland to England is massive. That’s a fact. Not all players are able to settle in directly from day one. I remember even Van Persie needed two, three years but he became Van Persie.

No, I never doubted my ability.

Yes, there is a lot of competition for places at Liverpool but that’s the same at every top club. It was like that when I was at Ajax and that isn’t a problem for me.

I play for my country and I am an established international.

From every little territory I’ve been, I’ve picked something up, things that I could use to better my game, to take with me, and the rest I left behind.

If you are young and you don’t get rewarded with game-time, or don’t come into games, it is difficult to try to still be hungry in the training sessions.

If you don’t believe you will end up as nothing. But if you believe a lot you can create a lot.

England is the biggest league in the world. Of course, you have Barcelona and Real Madrid but, as a league, England is in my opinion the best in the world.

Not everyone is Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Even Cristiano Ronaldo’s first years at Manchester United were quite difficult.

I was loved in Liverpool, I had good relationship with the fans and my team-mates but I felt I could do better.

English fans and the English atmospheres are special.

I know Robin van Persie very well and he is a great person and I have a lot of contact with him over the phone and text messages.

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.

If the vision is not right and if the right group of players is not together, it doesn’t come together.

Every footballer plays with the hope that people love to watch you. But, for me, there is no sympathy or interest. I don’t seem to have any charm for fans.

With Ajax and Liverpool, you win about 80 per cent of matches.

I have enough confidence at the moment to say that I have the potential to play at the same level as Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery.

If it fits in with my career, it will be a challenge for me to play for a MLS team. If that would be Steven Gerrard’s club, that would be very special.

The important thing, is to believe in a better future.

I like to explore the world.