Chelsea cash plus player bid for Liverpool's Raul Meireles rejected

Posted Tuesday, August 30, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Anfield club offered £7m plus Yossi Benayoun back
• Chelsea still hope to sign Luka Modric and Alvaro Pereira

Chelsea cash plus player bid for Liverpool's Raul Meireles rejected
Liverpool's Raul Meireles, right, celebrates after scoring the only goal in his side's win at Chelsea in February.

Chelsea have had an offer rejected for the Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles of £7m plus Yossi Benayoun as a makeweight.

The London club will continue to talk to Liverpool in the hope of making progress for Meireles, as they look to close the transfer window with a flourish, but Benayoun is unlikely to be part of any deal – Liverpool sold the midfielder to Chelsea last summer for £5m and they have the first option on him but they do not appear to want him back.

Benayoun sees no future for himself at Stamford Bridge and he wants to leave, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Lille having shown an interest in him. Chelsea remain determined to sign Luka Modric from Tottenham, meaning that Benayoun has found himself advanced in a makeweight in those negotiations.

Chelsea also hope to take the left-sided player Alvaro Pereira from Porto before Wednesday's deadline. They failed with a bid of €20m (£17.7m) last week, which fell short of the €30m buy-out clause in the Uruguayan's contract, but they are encouraged by the player's desire to complete the move.