Ryan Babel has revealed just how close he was to leaving Liverpool for West Ham on transfer deadline day in August 2010.
The former Netherlands international, who currently plays for Eyupspor in the Turkish second division, was caught up in the middle of one of the more bizarre deadline day stories after he was spotted taking a London-bound helicopter ride following interest from the likes of West Ham United.
Liverpool were reported to be interested in signing Carlton Cole from the Hammers with a swap deal mooted. Yet no-one saw the 'Babelcopter’ land and the Dutchman later posted on Twitter that he was “going nowhere” and was “LFC all the way”.
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It remains unknown to this day where the helicopter had taken Babel, or if he even boarded the flight in the first place, with it written off as another strange transfer deadline day story.
However, Babel has now revealed that he was indeed close to signing for the Hammers in a swap deal for Cole, only to pull the plug himself when he realised Liverpool were trying to sell him permanently as opposed to just sending him out on loan.
“I was at one point very close to joining West Ham,” he recalled to the ECHO, in association with MyBettingSites . "It was supposed to be a swap deal for Carlton Cole at one point. However, it didn’t go to plan.
“I was told that it was supposed to be a loan deal until the end of the season, and then I will come back to Liverpool. But on deadline day, I came to figure out that West Ham was going to buy me and I wasn’t willing to do that.
“Also my agent wasn't aware or was briefed wrongly. So in the end, my agent and I decided not to do it and the transfer didn’t happen.
“That was one of the only real moments where I was close. I had interest at the time from Spurs and Birmingham City - who were playing in the Premier League at the time.
“Fulham also approached me. I remember speaking with Mark Hughes at that time when he was coach. He wanted me to have a partnership with Mousa Dembele at that time, upfront as two strikers. These never came about though.”
Babel would infamously clash with manager Rafa Benitez during his time at Anfield and has been outspoken about the Spaniard in the past. And while he still considers his former boss to be a good manager, he admits he believes the 2005 Champions League-winning coach was the reason why Liverpool didn’t win any trophies during the Dutchman’s three-year stint at the club.
“Liverpool fell short of trophies during my time there because the management had a certain idea of executing and the execution fell short,” he said. “Overall, Rafa Benitez was a good manager for Liverpool. He was tactically strong.
“But at the same time, the way he managed the job in my opinion, at least when I was there, I felt like he didn't bring out our maximum potential. At one point he had a great rotation of players to choose from, and then at another point he would leave a lot of those same players out. I saw both sides of that coin, which of course had an impact on my own career.
“Sometimes you have managers like that, and I'm sure if we had Jurgen Klopp at that time, it would have been probably a different experience.”
Meanwhile, Babel has admitted his surprise at his former captain Steven Gerrard becoming a manager. The Liverpool legend was sacked by Aston Villa earlier this season, having previously won the Scottish Premiership with Rangers.
Gerrard has repeatedly been touted as a potential successor for Jurgen Klopp one day, and why Babel has impressed by what the former midfielder has achieved so far in the dugout, he doesn’t believe he has the right aura about him to become a great manager.
“I didn’t see Gerrard becoming a great manager,” he said. “Even though he was a great captain, and a good leader, I still felt he had something shy about him. He was not necessarily a great talker or a big speaker. You know, he spoke at the right times. He was a good leader on the pitch.
"Being a coach is different. I feel like you need to constantly be in people's faces and he didn't have that aura about him as a player in my time when I was there, and I experienced him in his last prime time from ages 27-30.
“Though at the same time, I'm not surprised that he did a good job. It may not have ended the way with Aston Villa how he wanted, but so far, his coaching career has been incredible. I'm sure he will bounce back and he will make the right decision to choose a new job that fits him and I'm sure he will be amongst good English coaches in the future.”
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