Could this midfielder really be on the way out at Liverpool?

At first I did not pay much attention when reports were floating around that Liverpool may be planning on selling Raul Meireles as he is surplus to requirements at Anfield or because he needed to be sold in order to fund the transfers of new signings this summer.

Looking at the first point, I do not understand why some people would think that he is surplus to requirements? Raul was after all voted PFA Fans’ Player of the Year after his impressive debut season for Liverpool. It took him a while to get going but that was largely due to the fact that Roy Hodgson had no idea where to play him! Kenny Dalglish then stepped in and we saw the best of Raul as he banged in goals for fun in consecutive matches. Raul has seemed to pick up niggling injuries through out the season but that is not reason enough to want to sell the player.

Now the debate is that Dalglish has bought in Jordan Henderson this summer and is still reportedly eyeing Charlie Adam. Where then would Meireles fit in if Liverpool signed Adam? There will be a lot of competition for places in central midfield as we have the likes of Gerrard, Lucas and Spearing already competing for places. Coupled with the fact that we could have Alberto Aquilani returning to Liverpool if no one buys him this summer.

If we are looking at the issue of selling Meireles to raise transfer funds then it could make sense as Meireles is more marketable and easier to sell than Aquilani. That is based on the assumption that FSG had included the sale of Aquilani as part of their summer spending budget. So to balance the books; sell Meireles as we will find a buyer for him and keep Aquilani as we will get more money by selling Meireles. It would not surprise me at all if this is what FSG are thinking as it makes business sense. Whether it makes sense on the field, that is another question.

It is being reported in some papers that Juventus are keen on signing Meireles and so are Inter Milan. I do not think we will have a problem at all selling Meireles as there will be a lot of suitors for him. The question would be, how much do we get for him? Liverpool can not sell him for anything less than the £12million we reportedly paid Porto for him.

Where this whole Meireles saga does not also make sense to me if we are looking at the angle that we need to sell him to raise money; FSG have never come out and said that we need to sell players first before we buy new players. That was a Hicks and Gillett policy which never seemed to work.

Now we should not forget that at the end of the season it was reported that Raul would be set to double his wages because when he signed for Liverpool last season he was signed on a low earning contract of £30,000-a-week and that was meant to double if he had a good debut season; which he had. Now if this is the fact, Raul joined Liverpool when Woy and Hicks and Gillett were in charge so maybe now with new management and owners in place, they are refusing to go ahead and double Raul’s contract, so that could easily be another reason Raul may leave Liverpool this summer.

Now based on the points raised above, it looks more and more likely that Meireles may be headed out the Liverpool door. This would be a great shame as I think he is better than Adam and he has a bright future ahead of him at Liverpool.

At the end of the day the final decisions will be done by Kenny and I am sure he knows best.

This article was written by Ron and is courtesy of our partner website ourkop.com. Read the latest news and blogs about Liverpool FC at Our Kop.

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