Babel must improve or leave in January, Hodgson warns

Ryan Babel, the Liverpool player who can most generously be described as "mercurial", has until January to cement his future at the club, according to manager Roy Hodgson.

Although Hodgson stopped short of delivering a full-blown ultimatum to the Dutchman, who has consistently failed to flatter during his three years at Anfield, he did outline that he will look to replace the 23-year-old in the January transfer window if the player does not impress in the meantime.

The Liverpool manager also revealed yesterday that he would have been willing to let Babel leave during the recent transfer window if Liverpool had been able to sign another forward, believed to be Carlton Cole, from West Ham.

"The thing about Ryan is that for two years he didn't have much of a look in," Hodgson said. "Since coming here he has not fulfilled his potential or had the chance to, so when there were offers for him we were prepared to allow him to speak to those clubs.

"But we made it perfectly clear that other things had to slot into place if we were to be able to allow him to go. The other things we had in mind did not slot into place, and secondly I must say I'm more than happy to work with Ryan. It is up to him to convince me, and no doubt if he has not convinced me by January that he is the player we need then he will have to accept we are in that transfer market for a centre-forward once again. But at least he has this period of time."

Hodgson also insisted that neither he nor his players were paying too much attention to the ongoing tensions within the Liverpool boardroom after the Royal Bank of Scotland placed co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks' loans in their toxic-asset department. "It doesn't affect us that deeply in our day to day work," Hodgson said. "The players come in, work hard and we get paid and it isn't a major issue for the club. It is something that us at Melwood can't do anything about and I can only, like the rest of the club, wait and hope that a conclusion is found that is satisfactory."