Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Raul Meireles from Liverpool on a four-year contract.
The midfielder, 28, arrives after just over a season at Anfield in which he made 44 appearances for the Reds.
Born in Aves, Portugal, the highly-rated international began his career with his hometown club before a move to top-flight Boavista, where he spent one season before moving to Porto in 2004.
It was at the Estadio do Dragao that he flourished and helped Porto to a domestic treble in 2005/06. He scored against Chelsea in the Champions League knockout rounds a year later.
Two more league titles followed in 2008 and 2009 and Meireles established himself in the national side, playing under Luiz Felipe Scolari in the lead-up to Euro 2008, where he scored his first international goal.
He played every game in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, and then scored in South Africa during the 7-0 beating of North Korea to catch Liverpool's eye.
After a low-key start in English football, Meireles came to life in January 2011, scoring five times in six games, including a winner at Stamford Bridge.
The 5ft 10in midfielder appeared twice from the bench for Kenny Dalglish's side this season before completing his move to Stamford Bridge on transfer deadline day.
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Yossi Benayoun has tonight (August 31) joined Arsenal on loan until the end of the season.
The 31-year-old came to Chelsea from Liverpool last summer, but after an impressive start, which included a first goal for the Blues in a 6-0 win at Wigan in August, he ruptured his Achilles on international duty last October forcing him to miss six months of the campaign.
In total the Israeli midfielder has made 11 Chelsea appearances, most recently as a substitute at Stoke on the opening weekend of the season.
Source:
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2438063,00.html
