Birmingham to make third Babel bid

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has gone back with a THIRD offer for Liverpool outcast Ryan Babel.

McLeish is desperate to fend off interest from Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp and land the Dutch forward.

And that deal will in turn help fund Liverpool's £14million move for Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones.

Babel, 23, is being bombed out of Liverpool after falling out with Kop boss Rafa Benitez and Birmingham have had two approaches rejected, including a second bid worth £10m.

But McLeish has gone back with an improved package of personal terms worth an extra £10,000-a-week - and a guarantee that he will be played as a
centre-forward.

Babel is desperate to get regular games in the Premier League to safeguard his place in the Dutch World Cup squad and was worried a move to Birmingham would not help his career if he was being played out of position.

Redknapp would love to sign Babel but could not guarantee him regular games as Tottenham have a wealth of strikers, including Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and wantaway Roman Pavlyuchenko.

That has left the way clear for Birmingham. Ambitious McLeish has money to spend and is desperately trying to convince Babel to move to St Andrews.

Beskitas and Galatasaray are also interested, but Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is not interested in a player-plus-cash deal involving Jones and Babel.

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