Raul Meireles another loss Liverpool may rue

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This summer had its fair share of deadline day transfers, which is a given with any transfer window. One of the most shocking was the move from Liverpool to southern rivals Chelsea, the media are portraying the shock factor of the move, however I dont believe pundits have really delved into how much this lo s might hurt Liverpool. The tenacious playmaker was voted PFA  Dee Gordon Jersey fans player of the year last year, and embodied Liverpools late run of good form by stepping up his own performances after not having the best starts under Hodgson, who played him out of position on the wing. His tenacity and work effort will be hard to replace, as will his vision and his lethal finishing. This is a story that Liverpool fans will be used to however, as they have been through this before with the sale Xabi Alonso, who felt disheartened with the rumours linking Barry with a move to Anfield and with the lo s of Javier Mascherano, both of which left the Mersey club with their best years still very much ahead of them. The reasoning behind this move must be the amount of competition for central midfielders at Anfield currently, and obviously good footballers will choose to stay and fight, rather than take the easy option and leave, however with stories being released back and forth between Stamford Bridge and Anfield. Meireles is claiming Commolli gave him no option and he was forced out, while Commolli claiming the opposite, add to this a dreaded transfer request Tim Beckham Jersey  which always adds go sip and speculation to the story and the truth may always be a mystery. Regardle s this article is to review the transfer, not the nature of the deal. Was Meireles really surplus to requirements at Anfield or will Dalglish and Commolli ultimately regret the decision to let the Portugese playmaker leave to such bitter rivals?Firstly lets take a look at Meireles himself. He signed for his hometown club, Porto at 21, and was largely used as a left-back, Meireles has openly stated this was the low of his career as he was never sure whether he would breakthrough to the first team, however he did and was soon shifted to his favoured position in the middle of the park. During his time at Porto he won the treble, bagging theleague title, Portuguese Cup and Super Cup in 2006 as wellas a bunch of other honours as Porto steamrolled Portugese football during his time at his hometown club. The11mil sum that bought him to England seemed a lot at the time, and whilst playing under Hodgson he never really settled enough to prove he was worth this amount, however him, along with a string of other players, such as Maxi and Kuyt, found form once King Kenny had returned to reign over the Kop and Meireles came into his own, opening his account under the Scotsman with a sublime finish against Wolves and continued this form by bagging against current employers Chelsea. He was Liverpools most consistent player last season and looked most dangerous going forward (until the signing of Suarez that is) and this was reflected with the award of fans player of the year being handed to him. In the 33 games he played for Liverpool last season he had a 74% pa s completiton rate and over 50% of his shots troubled the opposition goalkeeper.He has already started brightly for his London club too, and he has showed profe sionalism by stepping up to the plate for his previous manager Villa-Boas immediately, by setting up two  Tom Murphy Jersey goals in five games, along with seven shots in those five. One of the a sists was a blinding pa s to set up Sturridge for his equally as skillful backheel to put Sunderland to bed. So it is undoubtable that Meireles is a player of high cla s and hell go on to be a big hit at Stamford Bridge, this being another reason that Liverpool may regret letting him go, as Meireles Austin Nola Jersey  may end up a sisting Chelsea in bettering his Anfield predece sors, especially as he may just be the mi sing link that may get the best out of another Liverpool old boy Torres, with the two setting up a strong partnership at the start of last year, that will only develop over time.Now lets look at the Anfield club without the Portugese workhorse. Now even before the signings of Adam and Henderson Dalglish had a plethora of central midfielders in Spearing, Lucas, Aqualani (unlikely to feature but still a valid option in my opinion,) Gerrard, Shelvey and of course the Portugese in question. Now add to this the addition of Adam and Henderson over the close season and you can see why there would be concern for a player that wants to play every week. Adam is an incredible signing, in fact I believe it could be signing of the Summer, due to the cheap manner in which Dalglish was able to snap the fellow Scotsman up for. Adam is definitely a player that is on par to Meireles, it is hard to directly compare the two however, due to Meireles attack minded mentality and Adams undoubted ability to sit and spray pa ses from the middle of the park, however they are both players of natural ability and high calibre. Due to the fact that Adam was almost bought in during the January window whilst Meireles was increasing his performances, suggests they were looking to Adam to work with Meireles, this means it can be speculated that it wasnt Adam that pushed Meireles out, it was more Henderson. Obviously this is just speculation from my part but I see Henderson and Meireles as more similar players, due to the fact that they are more attack minded midfielders and both have spent stints on the wing. Henderson will undoubtedly be a player of the future, and one day he may just fill Gerrards boots, however if one compares Spearings performances towards the end of last season to Hendersons then it could be argued that Spearing is better for this role, especially as his pa sion and love for the club matched that of Gerrard. So if the nature of Meireles transfer did boil down to the introduction of Henderson then it could be that Liverpool will lose out as Henderson hasnt had a brilliant start to  Donnie Walton Jersey his Liverpool career and it may go down the same route as the Aqualani saga, who was bought in to replace Xabi Alonso.