Ryan Babel thought Christian Eriksen would be a flop at Tottenham Hotspur because he was ‘too soft’

Ryan Babel thought Christian Eriksen would be a flop at Tottenham Hotspur because he was ‘too soft’
Ryan Babel believed former team-mate Christian Eriksen would not be a success in the Premier League because he was too soft.Babel has just signed for Fulham on a deal until the end of the seasonand played with theTottenham Hotspur midfielder at Ajax.3

Ryan Babel during his second spell at Ajax

I was very sceptical in the beginning because we played together for a year at Ajax in 2012, Babel, whose new side play Spurs on Sunday, told The Sun.Of course Christian was amazing technically but, physically, he didnt want to be in challenges.For him to go to England, I was sceptical about it.But so far he has amazed me he is an incredible player who is much stronger than he was before.3

Christian Eriksen during his days with Ajax

Eriksen won three Eredivisie titles with Ajax before moving to White Hart Lane for 11.5million.The 26-year-old is now one of the top players in the Premier League and is being coveted by Real Madrid.Babel was signed by Liverpool for 11million in 2007 when he was just 20, but his time on Merseyside was not a success and left in 2011 to join Hoffenheim amid accusations he had a poor attitude. Babel said: There was nothing wrong with my attitude. I have never been a difficult person. I was always easy. I came in on time, I was always a professional.It was more that I wasnt always consistent in putting maximum work into training sessions. If you are young and you dont get rewarded with game time, or dont come into games, it is difficult to try to still be hungry in the training sessions.That is very normal if you are 20. That was, I guess, mostly the issue. I always went to try to speak to the manager a lot. I was young and did things besides football, such as being involved a little with music.Then they took that part way out of proportion, that I was being more busy with music than with football.3

Ryan Babel struggled at Liverpool

Rafa Benitez fined him two weeks wages in January 2010 for revealing on Twitter he had been dropped for a game with Stoke.A year later, Babel tweeted a picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United kit after a 1-0 FA Cup defeat, with the caption: And they call him one of the best referees? Thats a joke. SMH.That made him the first player to bepunished by the FA for a social media post they fined him 10,000 and days laterLiverpool sold him.Babel, now 32, said: I posted it and after not even 30 minutes it was really all over CNN, Sky Sports...I didnt expect that to happen.

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