I noticed a lot of gloating from Chelsea ‘fans‘ today, apparently they’d once again taken one our best players off us. If you’d read some of the ridiculousness as somebody without a prior knowledge of the sport, you’d be under the impression that they’d snook into the Anfield vault, snatched our best ever player from his ‘Best Ever Player’ podium and replaced him – Indiana Jones style – with a massive bag of peanuts. A good friend of mine even gloated in my direction via social media to that effect; apparently, the pull of Chelsea and all that is great about them and their trophy-laden cabinets were too much for him to resist.
I, however, prefer to see it another way. And that is that, once again, we’ve moved on a player for a reasonable sum and we’ve freed up another chunk of our wage bill. There is no doubt that Meireles was a superb player on his day but as the last three months of last season showed: he faded terribly. Some would argue that he started this season well but all we have to show for that was a strong substitute appearance against the Gunners a few weeks ago. And at the age of 28, it’s possible that the manager and his staff/board felt that once he was on the wrong side of 29, he would have no resale value, particularly as his contract wore down and his price diminished greatly. So I’m wondering if perhaps the oft-mentioned ‘Moneyball’ played some part in his departure.
What is in no doubt though, is that he was at least 3rd choice in our central midfield. Make that 4th, once Gerrard is injury-free again. There are those that still believe Gerrard is not only past his best but also likely to never completely recover from injury. I think that it’s highly unlikely we’d have let Raul leave so easily if there was some inside knowledge that our captain was going to play very little in the future.
Rather than thinking of ourselves as Chelsea’s ‘feeder club’, as some sections of the media like to claim I prefer to see Chelsea as our ‘retirement home’; the place we send players when we feel we’ve got the best out of them. After setting the world alight at the Reds Fernando Torres has managed a single goal in his 21 games for Chelsea so far and Yossi Benayoun managed only 10 appearances (also with one goal) before being loaned out to Arsenal on Wednesday. You’d hardly call that anything close to their best form for us, for either player.
So, while I wish you the best Raul I really do hope that, in 12 months time, you’re being loaned out to Arsenal on transfer deadline day.
Article courtesy of David Tryer at Live4Liverpool
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