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AMSTERDAM - Liverpool have reached agreement with Ajax Amsterdam to sign forward Ryan Babel for 17 million euros ($30.41 million), the Dutch soccer club said on Friday (NZ time).
"The striker, who had a contract until 2010 will sign a five-year deal with the Champions League finalists," Ajax said on its official website.
Babel was a member of the Netherlands team that won the European under-21 championship on home soil in June.
The 20-year-old, a product of the Amsterdam club's youth system, made his debut for Ajax aged 17 in February 2004 and has scored 24 goals in 111 matches.
Babel won the first of 14 full caps away to Romania in a qualifier for the 2006 World Cup during which he scored the first of his four international goals to seal a 2-0 victory.
- REUTERS