Roy Hodgson shows forward thinking by signing Raul Meireles for £10.7m
By the hyper-inflated standards of football's age of excess, the £10.7 million Liverpool will pay FC Porto for Raúl Meireles is barely enough to cause a ripple in the transfer market. Its impact, though, could be seismic.
By Rory Smith
Published: 11:00PM BST 28 Aug 2010
New strategy: by signing Raul Meireles, Roy Hodgson has identified the weakness which cost Liverpool their status among Europe's elite Photo: REUTERS Three months after Rafael Benítez was deposed from his Anfield throne, Roy Hodgson's template for Liverpool's renaissance is becoming apparent.
To assert that Meireles, a Portuguese international of considerable repute and, at 27, in the prime of his career, will be a success in the Premier League is to indulge in astrology, but his arrival does at least indicate that Hodgson has identified the weakness which ultimately cost Liverpool their status among Europe's elite and his predecessor his job.
What Liverpool have lacked in recent years – even when the midfield axis of Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso was at its destructive, creative best – is dynamism.
Moving Steven Gerrard into an advanced trequartista role behind Fernando Torres elicited the best from the England international, but came at the cost of robbing Liverpool of impetus from deep, of the thrust particularly vital in the frenetic world of the Premier League.
That is exactly what Meireles provides. First for Boavista, then for Porto and Portugal, his role has been to prompt attacks, not with the range of passing that makes Alonso such a rare gem, but with his relentless energy, his movement, his thrust. Whereas the Basque controlled space, Meireles fills it. If he can replicate the form which earned him the move, the Portuguese will bring an end to the sight of Liverpool lost in stasis.
It is too soon, of course, to suggest that a pairing of Meireles and Christian Poulsen, another new arrival, are suitable heirs for the players so long – and, judging by their new employers, rightly – proclaimed by the Kop as the best midfield in the world. As a duo, though, they possess the characteristics to thrive.
Whereas Mascherano is an attack dog of a midfield player, hunting down and ruthlessly eliminating his targets, Poulsen exists to guard, patrolling in front of the back four, positioning himself and picking off danger. The Dane will control Liverpool's shape, switch the angles of attack. He will play in the horizontal. Meireles adds a vertical element.
Despite the failed flirtation with 4-4-2 at Eastlands, Hodgson seems likely to employ his two most recent signings in the 4-2-3-1 with which the bulk of his squad are familiar. Gerrard will return to his role behind Torres, with the bustle of Dirk Kuyt or the finesse of Maxi Rodríguez on the right.
Joe Cole will, nominally, be stationed on the left, but it is an article of faith with Hodgson to allow his wide players a degree of fluidity. There will be no restrictions on the England player's freedom of movement, as there were in those days at Chelsea where he struggled to impose his authority on games. Liverpool's most naturally gifted technician ought not to be sacrificed.
Yet while the capture of Meireles – and Paul Konchesky, who arrived on Merseyside for a medical on Saturday ahead of a £3 million move – provide an answer to where Liverpool are heading on the pitch, they serve as a reminder that only questions remain off it.
Most poignant, as the transfer window draws to a close, is the inquiry as to why Hodgson's revolution did not begin to take shape until the final weekend of August. He was, after all, supposed to have £12 million to spend upon taking the job, plus whatever money is raised through sales, currently £16 million.
When Mascherano, who arrived in Barcelona on Saturday for his medical, signs for the Spanish champions, the total sum supposedly available to Hodgson should stand at £50 million. Yet the captures of Meireles and Konchesky take the club's outlay this summer to £24.2 million. As always at Liverpool, something does not add up.
Since Benítez decided to sell Robbie Keane back to Tottenham for £16 million in January 2009, Liverpool have recouped some £80 million in sales.
Mascherano's departure will take that figure to £102 million. The Spaniard and Hodgson between them have spent just £59.8 million, when Meireles and Konchesky are factored in, in the last 18 months.
At a club where both Tom Hicks, the co-owner, and Christian Purslow, the managing director, have asserted that the "player fund" is sacrosanct, in theory Hodgson should have £40 million burning a hole in his pocket. It is safe to assume he does not.
For all that Meireles represents a coup for Liverpool, a putsch is required before Hodgson's renaissance can truly take hold.
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