Ryan Babel admits taking on former club Besiktas with Galatasaray left him heartbroken.
Babel, who joined Liverpool from Ajax in 2007, left the club in 2011 after making 146 appearances. His journeyman career took him across Europe and the Middle East, but it was in Turkey with Kasimpasa and later Besiktas where he found significant success.
After a fruitful spell, scoring 22 goals in 62 games, Babel was snapped up by Fulham in the 2019 January transfer window. When his time at Craven Cottage came to an end, Babel made the switch to Galatasaray – just one year after quitting Besiktas.
As well as being among the biggest clubs in Turkey, the two teams are also local rivals with a long and bitter history. While Babel would have known what he was getting into, he was still heartbroken by the vitriol he received from his former fans.
In an interview with Ladbrokes Fanzone, Babel said: “Obviously that move to Galatasaray didn’t go down well. It was actually heartbreaking to play against Besiktas for the first time after that move.
“I’d gone from having all of their hearts, and returning to a stadium where I’d made so many great memories, to now being whistled and booed whenever I had the ball. I didn’t go directly to Galatasaray from Besiktas, though.
“I went to Fulham first, but they still didn’t really like it.”
Babel’s seven month stint at Fulham was bitter sweet. He scored five goals when he arrived in the 2019 January transfer window, but was not able to save the Cottagers from relegation.
Instead of remaining with the West Londoners in the Championship, Galatasaray pounced and convinced him to return to Turkey. While his former fan-base were disappointed, Babel said he never wanted to leave the Besiktas Stadium in the first place.
“I never wanted to leave Besiktas,” he added. “But the people on the board at the time, I felt, didn’t really deal with the whole situation in a respectful manner, and therefore I had to look elsewhere.
“Now, if you could turn things back, and they could have been respectful, then I would have stayed at Besiktas. Unfortunately, fans don’t always know why players make certain decisions.
“But it’s very common in football that boards don’t make the right decisions and, ultimately, players leave. That’s the nature of the business, unfortunately.”
