• Premier League

Meireles blames broken promise for Reds exit

Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles has revealed that Liverpool's failure to fulfil "one promise" was the main reason he left the club at the end of the summer transfer window.

Meireles was one of the last players to complete a transfer on deadline day, submitting a transfer request at Anfield just 30 minutes before the window was due to close in order to force through a £12 million move to Stamford Bridge.

Reports had suggested that Meireles' relationship with the Liverpool board had disintegrated in recent times - with suggestions that the new owners had failed to honour a pre-existing agreement to offer him an improved contract. And the former Porto player has now admitted that there was a breakdown in trust between the two parties.

"All I have to say is that I had one promise at Liverpool which wasn't fulfilled," Meireles said. "It's not the only thing to blame. But that's why the Liverpool fans are unsure why I left."

He added: "Liverpool asked me to hand in a transfer request, so that's normal."

Meireles admitted that he was aware the club were looking to sell him when the transfer window first opened.

"I was aware that Liverpool wanted to sell me in the summer, which was a bit surprising to me," said Meireles. "There's no point touching this subject any more.

"I was a bit surprised, but now I'm just concentrating on my present and future, and that's with Chelsea."

The Portuguese described the chance to arrive at Chelsea, linking up again with manager Andre Villas-Boas, was a "golden opportunity" he couldn't afford to miss. Meireles believes the club can win trophies under his compatriot's guidance.

"I worked under Andre for one month at Porto, so I felt that there's the same mentality here as there was at Porto - the desire to win competitions and trophies. With Andre, we can do that," he said. "In one month, it was enough to see how he works and his desire to win things. So it wasn't hard to make the decision to come to Chelsea."

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