City eye fresh Liverpool raid

Birmingham are being tipped to revive their interest in unsettled Liverpool forward Ryan Babel after the World Cup.

Blues made an offer in the region of £7million for the Dutch ace in January and, at one point, it appeared the winger would make the move to St Andrew's after growing increasingly frustrated under former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez.

However, the 23-year-old decided to stay on Merseyside in the second half of last season and did enjoy an improvement in fortunes, featuring in plenty more games with Benitez opting for him ahead of Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun.

Birmingham will lead the way to offer him an escape route out of Anfield, though, but may have to pay at least £7million again for a player the Reds splashed out £11.5million on three years ago.

Babel picked up an injury just a couple of weeks ago that did threaten his World Cup chances but he is recovering well and has been included in Holland's 23-man party for South Africa.

If he impresses over the summer, there could be plenty of sides interested should Liverpool opt to cash in and the player himself decides to move on following Benitez's departure.

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