Babel wants to stay and fight for his place

Ryan Babel wants one more season to prove himself at Anfield. The dutch international has struggled to maintain a regular place since his £11m move from Ajax two years ago and was recently told to find another club by Rafa. Last night the player insisted he wants to stay and fight for his place. The Echo reports that his agent Winnie Haatrecht said: “Ryan is very happy at Liverpool and clearly doesn't want to leave. He still has a three-year contract.”

But it appears that Rafa may have changed his mind about letting the player leave the club. Speaking on Tuesday, Benitez revealed his thoughts about the squad for the next campaign: “I'm positive because we were talking recently about how Fernando [Torres] and Steven Gerrard didn't play together for a long time,” he said. “Hopefully, they will manage that more next season – and we also have good young players like David Ngog, Nabil El Zhar, Ryan Babel and Emiliano Insua coming through. We have a very good squad but we can still improve a little bit. How much – enough to win the title? I'm sure it will be enough to compete.”

Speaking in May Benitez said: "Ryan has done well as an impact player, which is not easy when you are young, but we think he can do more than that. Our view of Ryan is a player who starts games and has an impact from the beginning. But first of all he has to improve tactically."