Craig Bellamy Signs While Meireles Hands in Transfer Request

Put in a transfer request at the last minute? For Chelsea? What the fuck is he thinking? I used to love him, now I hate him more than that Shite Torres. Maybe he thought KK's first choice was Adam, and it probably looked like that to many of us. Who cares now. We'll have to fix his ass when we play them, just like we did to Torres.

here's what I'm thinking. If Liverpool let aqua and meireles go, it can only mean one thing: our Captain's back! 

I like your optimism

So tightfisted FSG have shown their true colours finally with the Meireles deal. Instead of doing the commonsense thing and having Sturridge coming to Liverpool to link with Suarez up front and have a second goalscoring striker, FSG decided instead to claw some money back as part of their costneutral philosophy. The club can forget about top four once more this season. Fans should expect Glen Johnson to be unsettled and sold in January to claw back yet more money. This Meireles deal was obviously going  on all day. The Bellamy signing is  a sick joke.

He put in a transfer request. He didn't want to be at LFC. With mere minutes remaining. I'm not blaming FSG for selling. I loved that F#cker, but he's injury prone and near 30.

Harry Redknapp said that Chelsea had had a bid of 40 million turned down by Spurs for Modric on Tuesday. It is obvious that the Meireles deal was going on for a lot longer then a half hour on Wednesday. The failure to intercede in even the Bryan Ruiz deal shows the cheapskate attitude of FSG. LFC will not make the top 4 because all the other 5 contenders have more goalscoring strikers.

Hey Kenneth, like you to meet Sue. Just saying.

As irritated as I am about this sale, saying goodbye to top four seems like a bit of an overreaction. We still got a lot better this off season even without meireles.

LFC have just one striker who can score more then 10 goals from play. That is not enough to get into top 4 for example look at Spurs last season.

That's a bit unfair. Meireles put in the request, thats the way football contracts work. If Daniel Sturridge had done the opposite you could make this argument.

Chin up, people.

First off, fuck em for leaving it this late and forcing a move to chelsea's bench through at the last possible moment. He deserves the same amount of special disdain as Nando.

Secondly, for our best display of the season so far, he wasn't even on the bench. We can play excellent football without him.

Adam, Gerrard, Lucas, Hendo, Shelvey, Spearo (+ Coady, Suso). That's the options for 2 spots (1 really, Lucas is indispensable) in central midfield. We have quality depth.

Fourth, this brings our net spend down to about 30-35 mill, which, in tandem with our new owners willingness to splash cash when necessary, frees up funds for major improvements in the next transfer window.

We'll be fine.

Also, because it can't be said enough, fuck em.

Shame about the Raul deal. Guy's a huge loss for sure. Can't bring myself to get too upset with the player or the club. Irrespective of my preference. he patently wasn't gonna start in the middle much under Kenny this year and 12 mil is hard to reject for a guy who ain't a nailed-on starter. That said, any window that takes in dowing, adam, hendo, doni and bellers with cole, kyrgiakos, degen, poulsen and ngog leaving ( plus 16 mil in ) is ok by me.

And yes, I am The Anti-Sue.....

News to cheer everyone up. The last of the deadwood is gone Philip Degens contract has been terminated

Quite upset about losing Meireles, but he did have prior history with AVB. With Steven Gerrard returning he would lose out on first team opportunities.  That's the best way we can see it.

It's not all bad. We blew this one, but have others. Gerrard is back soon and KK didn't look like Raul was a instant start (unlike us fans). But wait! Degen has gone. How are we going to start a fire now we've no dead wood?

Brad Jones?

3rd keeper, not dead wood. The others are sold/loaned.

I believe that Kenny never really liked Raul - with a £60 k a week he would have stayed but .
In addition to that, he is technical indeed but not strong enough(see all the niggling injuries) and never tackled or attempted a header

Dam One person leaves (be it a good midfielder) but it just turns into Doom&Gloom over here, We still got Great players, and on a good note Raul leaving makes picking a starting 11 simple both on the field and Fifa12  

I'm not doom and gloom at all about Liverpool--just very much liked Meireles and sad to see him go.

Particularly to that bunch of twats.

Hear, hear. My sentiments exactly. We've still got a solid, fearsome midfield after all the new acquisitions and the eventual return of Gerrard. But we've delivered yet another gifted player of ours to our direct rivals. First Yossi, then Torres, now Meireles. Are we gonna keep shooting ourselves in the foot till we have no toes left?

I feel like I'm overreacting a bit, but what's the counterargument to this?

Instead of accepting Fiorentina's offer, we've sold our best midfield passer to one of our closest competitors for less money, as a direct result of lowballing him contractually, while at the same time, offering the roundly mocked 90K a week Joe Cole made here (which, by the way, we're still paying 60% of) to a most likely fourth choice striker, who, apparently pissed at his playing time and ostensibly life in general, once attacked a Liverpool teammate with a golf club.

Go on.

If all that stuff was accurate, sure.

But Bellamy's not on close to 90k. Also offers something we don't have in the squad; raw, genuine pace. I'm not a huge fan, but when he's on, he can make good center halves lose their minds.

Nobody knows what offer Viola made for Meireles, but they seldom splurge, so it's highly doubtful that they'd offer more than Chelsea.

Fees quoted today range from 10-15 mill. For a player that doesn't want to play for us and who isn't a starter, that's a good deal.

And I'd rather pay Cole 54k to stay away, than 90k to be here. If there are no takers, this is the best deal available.

True, we can never be fully certain on these things.

Both the Guardian and Telegraph - two of the few names I genuinely trust, especially the Guardian - have reported that Bellamy will be on very similar terms to his 95K City deal. Whether that's 70, 80, or 90, it's still, to me, a lot of money for a fourth striker given our haggling over Meireles' deal.

Plenty of sources reported Fiorentina's bid at 12, and from what I've read Chelsea's is 10, rising to 12 based on incentives. Either way, they're in the same ballpark, the difference, of course, being that one team plays in another country and the other could well be taking a European place from us.

Fair enough, but it doesn't make any kind of fiscal sense, which is why I feel comfortable discarding the idea.

12 mill would have meant a record transfer fee for Viola. By 20%. Given their transfer history, I just don't find that very likely. And again, it wouldn't make sense financially.

Can't argue with the rival bit though. Don't like it. But with Chelsea's depth and spending, Raul isn't likely to be the tipper of scales. Besides, if we can't beat out Spurs and Arsenal for 4th place, we're not getting any of that CL cash.

That's perhaps the worst bit. Raul may neither 1) get any playing time at Chelsea, nor 2) fit into their philosophy.  It really feels like they did this just to be dicks.

Hey, I think if you look at all of the buy/sell/loan deals, Liverpool FC looks diamond. You have to spend money to make money, so to speak:), and I think Liverpool FC have shifted and spent their money really well.

Raul for instance...well, the club made money and never ended up paying him a high salary, which I think was a good idea in the long run. And perhaps a few buys seem high (but sometimes the club is going to have to do that to get their man from a reluctant seller), but others seem like awesome bargains. And the cost of the cancelled contracts and subsidized loan salaries make sense in the long run as long as the new deals don't follow the same pattern. And then there is all of the young talent that should increase in value over time.

Look at Liverpool's buying, selling, loaning, and salary policy from a macro perspective, and it looks darn impressive now and for the future. Excellent pattern of buying, selling, and loaning to end up with a far superior team.

Good points.

I think I'll come down a bit tomorrow, but for now, my love of RM on and off the pitch is quite tough to put aside :(

Well when you put it that way...

But really, I think this was mistake by Comolli and co. I get they're mantra about not wanting people to be there who want to be other places, but selling Meireles to Chelsea when (as you mention), there was another offer on the table for roughly the same amount from a club that is not a close competitor, was not the solution.

I'm Harvey Dent with this Meireles deal. I like him a lot and love what he can do - and I fucking hate Chelsea. In that sense, I"m shocked to see him move on like this. On the other face, fuck him. We made a profit on 44 appearances, a purple patch of about 5 weeks, and an injury history which suggests that he separates a shoulder falling down. FSG makes him hand in a transfer request, burn bridges, and get a stack of cash for January. So be it.

He's a classy player who, for whatever reason, did not buy into the KD era. So good riddance you hip bastard. I hope Lucas tears him a new one. Could've been a cult hero champion, now just a mercenary in skinny jeans.

I like this guy.

While I dont like the transfer of Meireles Im not throwing away the entire window because we lost a role player. Lets not forget our Captain will be returning shortly enough, maybe Bellamy gets pushed wide opposite downing and moving Hendo back to his preferred position in the middle. Then there is the tandem of Lucas and Adam, I mean how much time was he really gonna get? 10-12 mil is pretty good , no?

Yea, but we bought him for 11mil. He not only showed he could adapt to the premier league, but he also won an award for it. Then, add the fact that he is perfectly suited for pass and move football. 

Role player is a term for Spearing. Meireles was a difference maker. 

Beginning of the transfer window everyone was saying we're way too overstocked in the midfield department.  Now one Raul Meireles is gone and suddenly we're too thin?

Hey, he was great player, but we'll get on well enough.  Dalglish and Comolli know what they're doing.

From the reaction here you would've thought Messi and Iniesta just signed for Real Madrid...

I'm with you RedTer. Comolli, KK et al have done too well across the board to have cocked this one up that mightily. As always, there'll be more to it than meets the eyes.

Don't worry myopic ones. Lucas will step and pass the ball forward. Heck, he might even shoot on target in 2011!

shooting on target from deep midfield?? pretty sure we'd all love him even more for that.

I think this is the first positive comment from Sue, most of the time its all doom and gloom.

He is being sarcastic

Or She?

I'm thinking it's a script at this point, programmed to scan the mood of the comments section and make a related negative comment about Lucas. Someone should really update the script, it's not 2007 anymore. We all LOVE Lucas now!

Hey, a post from you about Lucas when nobody else is talking about him! 

Who's myopic?

I'm really pissed off about the Meireles situation too, but look at it this way; now everyone who was bought by Hodgson is gone.  

The worst of this (aside from the betrayal) is that Meireles was arguably the last midfielder we had who was tailor-made to play with Suarez. We're stuck now with a squad built almost entirely to feed Carroll.  No, this is really not good.

Dunno how many minutes he'll get this season, but Maxi was born to play with Suarez. All 7 of his goals at that tail end of last season were created by Suarez (except the one curler). Gerrard plays well with him, but I fear everyone else is a hoofer/crosser. I'm still bummed things didn't work out with Aqui.

Gerrard is tailor-made to play with Suarez.  Kuyt links up well with him.  From the looks it Coates has a Suarez-seeking missile on his hoof too.  Lucas will feed in, Agger, Spearing.  Not to mention we actually still have Maxi Rodriguez.  

Or should I say, Suarez will thrive with anyone in any system.  Just because Downing and Adam are good crossers doesn't mean they can't play a through-ball.  We'll be fine.

This is a really good and really depressing point.

Early reports suggest we didn't even get anyone in return.  We've strengthened Chelsea while simultaneously weakening ourselves.  This is terrible business.  And unless some unexpected facts come to light real soon, I may just hold this against Raul in ways I never would have with even Torres, at least we all knew Torres had thoughts of leaving (plus he paid for Suarez and Carroll), but  Raul leaving it late here has really weakened our club.

I have a hard time believing ownership didn't know Raul wanted out if he didn't get improved terms. And we were the ones that insisted full cash over a player swap.

Really tough that Raul left it so late, but I think the blame falls on the club here too. This really sucks.

What had turned out to be a fantastic summer for you guys went to shit with this one. Good luck in reaching the UCL.

Was that genuine or gloating? I've lost the ability to regulate my emotions.

Genuine. Virtually every single media outlet has spewed that you will make it and we will drop out, but I have to say today has changed the situation quite a bit. That being said, I've always liked Liverpool and I really hope you guys still surprise and knock out Chelsea (heh, the irony), or better yet, Citah and make it to the UCL.
Except for Coates and Suarez. They're jerks.

You poor bastard, Arteta and Benyoun and yer over the moon. Whats happened the gooners? Id be listening to those media outlets if I were you.

You too.

Fuck Manchester.

Well Meireles sure gave a big Fuckyou to LFC by waiting until the last half hour.

I know he hasn't been here for years, but it's gonna be damn hard seeing Meirerles in that horrible blue shirt :(

Fuck. This puts a dent in the whole season for me honestly. I can't possibly root against Raul.

This has ruined my day and possibly my entire week. If contracts even meant anything we wouldnt have to worry about this shit! Anyway hopefully Agger is ready to plow someone down with his elbow again next Chelshit game. Even though Raul didnt leave saying he was loyal and happy, like a Spainard I once knew, I still feel the same anger

We're a bit thinner in the middle now?

Well, that puts a bit of a dent it what had been a fantastic window.

WTF! Meireles signs 4 year deal at Chelsea? Son of a bitch!

I'm pretty heartbroken about Raul.  If you're going to do this, why wait until the last half-hour?  For me, this somehow undoes most of the good that has come in the past few weeks, at least emotionally.

Not sure that the timing has anything to do with him--could be the club's decision at that point. 

Doesn't make it any less painful, but you know, we're fucking objective.

How is it the clubs fault when he handed in the request just now? Why would they want him to hand in the request...

Not saying it's the club's fault, had just read that the request could have been handed in at an earlier point, and the club had a choice as to when to announce it.

Hearsay, though, so who knows.

Confirmed for four years. Goodnight everyone.

ESPN Soccernet's deadline deal live reports the deal was only 10 million that could turn into 12. Even 12 seems like we just got ripped off.

why would raul leave it so late to submit.. he had all summer.. fuckhead

This makes no sense to me. Why would you give arguably your closest competitor in the table a player they need?

Honestly, it's not like RM would walk into the CFC squad - they still seem to hold Fat Frank in some esteem - but I'm assuming they'll pay him what he's worth.

This is not good.

the fuck

Why would he want to go there? Why does Chelsea buy everyone that scores on them? I might have to head down to London myself and set things straight

Hoping beyong hope the Raul Meireles thing is a horrible mistake. Was really impressed by him.

As with Aquilani, he just wasn't shown the respect he deserved.