Ryan Babel has reflected on playing landlord to his one-time Dutch international team-mate during his Everton loan spell
Former Everton loanee Royston Drenthe, of ZIGGO Sport, is present during the Champions League match between Feyenoord and Bayern Munich at Stadium De Kuip in Rotterdam last season. Photo by Marcel van Dorst / EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Former Everton loanee Royston Drenthe(Image: Marcel van Dorst / EYE4images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Royston Drenthe’s stint at Everton is already mired in notoriety. But he now has a new chapter added to his Blues’ story - claims he built a nightclub inside the home of a former Liverpool player.
Ryan Babel said he rented his home to the ex-Real Madrid star while he was on loan with Everton and, upon revealing his plans to part ways with the property, joked his fellow Dutch international became a nightmare to host.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Babel explained: “The time has come to pass it on to its next lucky owner. This house holds so many memories… it was the first place I moved into after leaving my parents’ home, full of excitement, mistakes, and lessons. When I left Liverpool, I rented it out to a few tenants… one of them being my good old Dutch teammate Royston Drenthe. Let’s just say he gave “tenant from hell” a new meaning.”
Among the claims made against Drenthe were that he created a club inside the home without Babel’s permission. Within the post, he exclaimed: “You can’t make this stuff up.”
Drenthe’s time with the Blues has gone down in ignominy, with his party lifestyle having long been a subject of rolled eyes and anecdotes from exasperated team-mates.
The most notorious allegation made against Drenthe was that he attempted to gain access to the jacuzzi at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground in the early hours of the morning for his personal use .
Recalling Drenthe’s spell, former goalkeeper Tim Howard said back in 2021: “We're Everton, rolled sleeves up, worker bees. “In comes Royston in Rolls-Royces to training, bowls in with his shoes untied, he has to run the perimeter of the training ground because he's always late, his eyes were half open... you were just at Real Madrid, what are you doing here? This is weird.
“I guess he'd never heard of CCTV and he ended up coming to the training ground in the middle of the night with friends, and they're in the hot tub... you're just thinking: 'You're at the wrong club here mate’.”
Phil Jagielka, the club captain at the time, added his own reflections on Drenthe’s loan spell last year when he told the BBC’s Kyle Walker podcast: “[It is tough when] you either get a bad period, or when people start doubting, or you get a rogue player who doesn’t want to be on time.”
Asked for an example, he said: “The easiest one is Royston Drenthe. We’ve all heard stories about him. When someone wants to come to the training ground at 2am to use the jacuzzi for the wrong reasons…The funny thing was he was so miles off it, it was nothing to do with me.”
Drenthe’s spell came during current boss David Moyes’ first stint as Everton manager when he arrived on loan from Madrid during the 2011/12 campaign.
He initially impressed, an early highlight being his stunning effort at Fulham. But the relationship unravelled and the following April he was left out of the FA Cup semi-final defeat by Liverpool due to a discipline issue.
Drenthe himself has spoken about his time at Everton - including the hot tub story. Speaking in 2023, he said: “The real story ended up being blown up massively and turned into something which wasn't true. Yes, I went to Finch Farm in the early hours, but only ever with friends and family who were coming over to see me. I didn't see anything wrong with it at all.”
But with the benefit of hindsight the player, who ended up playing in Russia before stints back in England, admitted he was out of order.
Drenthe, who returned to the Netherlands before retiring, added: "A lot has been made in the past of my time at the club, and the kind of character I was when I joined, and people know all about my relationship with David Moyes - especially while I was a player at Goodison Park.
“I think back now with a completely different mindset, though. As a 36-year-old, I can understand and appreciate the job he was doing and how I thought back when I was 25 perhaps wasn't always right.
"Back then, I was firmly of the belief that Moyes was simply out to prove to the other players that he could get under my skin. We'd argue and I'd just think: 'What the f***?' 'Is he taking the p***?'.
“And while there are certain occasions where I can say I still feel I was in the right, on the whole I'd say he was. Ultimately, he wanted to get the best out of me as a player, he wanted to help me, I just couldn't see that at the time. But people change, and I can look back now a lot older and wiser, and I can understand why he did what he did with me."