Liverpool bid for Babel

Ryan Babel's agent has confirmed that Liverpool have made a bid for the under-21 Dutch star.

The young Ajax attacker, who is at home on the wing or as a striker, was widely believed to be on his way to Arsenal next season but the Liverpool offer has tempted the Dutch side.

Babel was an integral part of the Dutch under-21 side that won the European Championships on home soil last month.

He has already won senior caps, scoring on his debut against Romania and again against Russia.

His agent Winnie Haatrecht has not revealed the fee, believed to be around £7 million, but he told Sportweek magazine: "I can say nothing about transfer fees, but I can confirm that Liverpool have made a bid for Ryan.

"Ryan himself hasn't spoken with that club," he added. "Only when Ajax says that the clubs have an agreement can we speak, and phase two starts.

"But it's not that far yet. We first have to wait to see if the clubs reach a deal or not."

Babel has made 27 Eredivisie appearances for Ajax last season, scoring five goals.

Last week Liverpool set a new club record for a transfer when they signed Spain's 23-year-old hitman Fernando Torres for a fee believed to be between £20 and £26 million.

Manager Rafael Benitez said then that his priority was wingers and Babel falls into that category.

Other targets include west Ham's Israeli international Yossi Benayoun and the Portuguese duo of Simao Sambrosa and Ricardo Quaresma.

The stumbling block on Benayoun could the Hammers' valuation of £6m. Benitez has been a long term admirer of Benfica's Simao, who is a direct winger with a good delivery and a dangerous free-kick.

Porto's Quaresma, on the other hand, is an extremely skilful player but his price tag of £17m looks to be too much of a gamble for Benitez.

The Merseysiders last night recouped some of the Torres fee when they completed the transfers of Craig Bellamy to West Ham and Djibril Cisse to Marseille for a combined fee of £15m.

Bellamy went to East London for £7.5m plus add-ons, while former record signing Cisse (£14m) was sold for £8m.  Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez is also expected to be sold to Real Betis for £3.5m.

As well as Torres, Liverpool have signed Brazilian under-21 captain Lucas Leiva, Argentinian winger Leto and Ukrainian striker Andrei Voronin from Bayer Leverkusen.