Ajax ready to sell Babel to Liverpool - but only for £13.5m

Liverpool and Ajax are set to strike a deal for talented winger Ryan Babel in the coming days according to the Dutch club - but only if the Merseysiders meet their £13.5million asking price.

The Amsterdam club's technical director Martin van Geel admitted talks between the clubs had taken place but that a fee had not yet been agreed.

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Van Geel told AD Sportwereld: "Liverpool is willing to pay a huge sum for Ryan.

"We have told them what we want, and that's 20million euros (£13.5m). That is our price.

"We would like to see Babel play here next season, it's not for nothing that we have extended his contract until June 2010.

"But if these kind of clubs want to pay us these figures it says something.

"We will see if we can reach a deal in the coming days."

Babel, who starred for Holland in the recent Under-21 European Championships, admitted it was "very nice" that Liverpool had expressed an interest in taking him to Anfield.

The 20-year-old said: "I had heard that there were some stories on the internet but that happens quite often.

"This (Liverpool's interest) is serious news to me.

"I haven't thought about a transfer for a minute, I will do that soon though. That such a big club is interested is of course very nice."

Babel's agent Winnie Haatrecht issued a note of caution, however, and stated only a move which would benefit his client from a playing point of view would be considered.

Haatrecht said: "The route is very clear. First Liverpool and Ajax need to get an agreement about a transfer, that's step one.

"After that we want to know what the technical staff of Liverpool has planned for Ryan.

"The sporting perspective must be totally clear. Only then can Ryan make a good choice.

"Of course Liverpool is a great club. But it must not be that he needs to fight with eight strikers for two positions. We must also look at the development of Ryan."