Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez admits signing Ryan Babel from Ajax last summer was a gamble.

He told liverpoolfc.tv: "We have a very good scout department. We knew about him for a long time. When Ryan was playing at the age of 16, 17 and 18, our chief scout was watching him. The key when we signed Ryan was that he was playing in a 4-3-3 or as a left-winger in a 4-4-2 for Ajax.

"When you sign players from Ajax they have special movements just for the system they play. To bring Ryan was a little bit of a gamble. He's a young player with a lot of talent but we needed to play him in a different position. He needed to run more and go 40 metres back, when at Ajax it was maybe 20 metres."