Chelsea succeeded in another last-gasp raid of Liverpool after completing the signing of Raul Meireles with minutes of the transfer window remaining.In an echo of Fernando Torres' £50million January switch, the Blues left it until just before the deadline to complete a deal for Meireles. Like Torres, the midfielder submitted a written transfer request, with Liverpool also agreeing a fee with Chelsea for £12m.
The Blues had been hoping Meireles, who signed a four-year deal, would be joined at Stamford Bridge by Porto left-back Alvaro Pereira but they were unable to reach an agreement before the 11pm deadline. They were also unable to offload any of their squad other than in loan deals, with Yossi Benayoun joining Arsenal, Gael Kakuta moving to Bolton and Patrick van Aanholt being farmed out to Wigan. New signing Ulises Davila also joined Vitesse Arnhem for the season. Chelsea reportedly had a bid rejected for Meireles on Tuesday but, having seen numerous mega-money offers rejected for Tottenham's Luka Modric, they appeared to meet Liverpool's asking price. Meireles, who will wear the No 16 at Chelsea, was named the PFA Fans' Player of the Year after an impressive maiden season at Anfield last term but was deemed surplus to requirements by Reds boss Kenny Dalglish. 
No comments:
Post a Comment