Raul Meireles

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Choulo, Gaël is home-grown.

I'm not too familiar with those rules, but I thought that in order for a player to be considered homegrown, he has to have spent a certain amount of time with the club before a certain age. Didn't we have the same problem with Bertrand this year in the CL?

[robdog 2,084]

The Sun is reporting that Real Madrid are lining up a £10m summer swoop for unsettled Blues midfielder Raul Meireles. I know the Sun is basically fish wrap, but I thought I could interest you good people w/ this tidbit.

[francozola 2,040]

I wouldn't sell him. We are already short of midfield options and Lampard and Essien both are past it. We need to be bringing midfielders in. He is clearly not good enough to be a starter but he is a good squad option.

I know everyone thinks he's shit but he's not. He's an average player who does okay when he's given the proper duties in midfield. Plus with so many players leaving at the end of this season, we can't afford to sell him and then be 1 player short next season or have to spent another 15-20 million on a replacement

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

I wouldn't sell him. We are already short of midfield options and Lampard and Essien both are past it. We need to be bringing midfielders in. He is clearly not good enough to be a starter but he is a good squad option.

I know everyone thinks he's shit but he's not. He's an average player who does okay when he's given the proper duties in midfield. Plus with so many players leaving at the end of this season, we can't afford to sell him and then be 1 player short next season or have to spent another 15-20 million on a replacement

His departure would help Josh get more games.

[Ollie 4,400]

Real want Meireles for £10m? That's gotta be joke of the century.

He's a decent player that works hard and he's done ok for us but Real Madrid and £10m? Can't see that one at all.

Good squad player tho imo.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Real want Meireles for £10m? That's gotta be joke of the century.

He's a decent player that works hard and he's done ok for us but Real Madrid and £10m? Can't see that one at all.

Good squad player tho imo.

I thought April fools was on the 1st.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

What upsets me most about seeing him play in a Blue shirt is that he has nothing over Josh. Why did we send one of the biggest prospect in the country to rot on another teams bench while we play a thug that can hardly do better?!

[Spike 12,049]

What upsets me most about seeing him play in a Blue shirt is that he has nothing over Josh. Why did we send one of the biggest prospect in the country to rot on another teams bench while we play a thug that can hardly do better?!

He is hardly a thug, he rarely tackles!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He is hardly a thug, he rarely tackles!

My bad, "thug-looking player" is more fitting.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Real want Meireles for £10m? That's gotta be joke of the century.

He's a decent player that works hard and he's done ok for us but Real Madrid and £10m? Can't see that one at all.

Good squad player tho imo.

Sell sell sell!

[francozola 2,040]

His departure would help Josh get more games.

Josh should be an addition to our midfield, not a replacement of Meireles. If he isn't good enough to play for Swansea, why would he be ready for us. I'm not saying he shouldn't be played at all. But he's not ready to start. He needs another loan (where he'll play week-in-week-out) OR sit on our bench and play 20-30 minutes every other game. No way is he ready to start.

If we get rid of Meireles, Lampard & Essien are already useless as it is, so we only have Mikel, Romeu and Ramires as midfielders in our team and two are defensive midfielders.

Essien should be the one sold. Lampard should be made a substitute player or sold if he's not happy.

He is a good squad player. Can't believe some of you don't see that. We CANNOT just have 2 or 3 midfielders in our squad and stick with the past-it Essien and Lampard. Playing 50 games a season, you need experienced squad players. Why is this not obvious? AVB gave him stupid roles and that's why he was shit. He still provides more than Lampard and Essien put together in certain types of games.

Anyway I hate this topic now. I hate this bias against Meireles so I'll just avoid it from now on. He should leave. The abuse he gets from fans is completely unfair.

[Jase 43,479]

If Mourinho is so generous to "donate" 10m to us, I would gladly accept it!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Josh should be an addition to our midfield, not a replacement of Meireles. If he isn't good enough to play for Swansea, why would he be ready for us. I'm not saying he shouldn't be played at all. But he's not ready to start. He needs another loan (where he'll play week-in-week-out OR sit on our bench and play 20-30 minutes every other game) No way is he ready to start.

Let me start by saying that both Allen and Britton would just walk into our starting eleven. I agree, Josh isn't yet good enough to be starting in a team competing for a top four finish in the PL, but then again, who in our midfield is? Definitely not Raul.

My prime argument about selling Raul is that Josh provide almost anything Raul does on the pitch (except looking like a mafia guy from Vice City ). So here is a brief comparison of the two, please feel free to dispute any point I make:

Defensively: Both seem to suffer in that domain. Josh's physical assets don't help him in tackles and most PL players seem to just brush him aside, but his sliding tackles are quite good. Raul is better at chasing the ball but seems unwilling to ever commit to a tackle making him a disaster at DM.

Passing: Josh clearly wins this round. His short and composed passing is what makes his such a great prospect while his through balls sometimes look like magic tricks. I think he needs a bit more confidence to start making more forward passes. Raul, on the other hand, have showed that he can sometimes create good chances for his teammates, but he often messes up the simple short pass. In games, (like city away) his passing was just shocking (or atrocious ).

Dribbling: Another point to Josh. He has excellent ball control and a good turn of pace while you'd rarely back Raul to get by a player, not that he often tries to.

Experience: This is where Raul has a major advantage on our young Josh. His PL experience is major asset in any game.

I would hardly say that Raul is miles ahead of Josh, which brings me to the conundrum: Why did our club send a nineteen year old who can easily turn into the next big thing and who desperately needs some playing time at the highest level to warm the bench in wales while he can't do much worse than the player we chose to start half of our matches?

If we get rid of Meireles, Lampard & Essien are already useless as it is, so we only have Mikel, Romeu and Ramires as midfielders in our team and two are defensive midfielders.

Essien should be the one sold. Lampard should be made a substitute player or sold if he's not happy.

He is a good squad player. Can't believe some of you don't see that. We CANNOT just have 2 or 3 midfielders in our squad and stick with the past-it Essien and Lampard. Playing 50 games a season, you need experienced squad players. Why is this not obvious? AVB gave him stupid roles and that's why he was shit. He still provides more than Lampard and Essien put together in certain types of games.

Essien should definitely be sold and Lamps should be a rotating option, no more. I think we can all agree on that. But that only means that we need to buy a couple of GOOD young midfielders in the summer. Meireles staying would only be a reason to not buy the players we desperately need. Besides, Raul is hardly much better than Lamps or Essien. This kind of strategy by our board is what led us to the predicament we're in. It is quite simple in my opinion: Average players who have no hope of developing to anything more should move on.

Anyway I hate this topic now. I hate this bias against Meireles so I'll just avoid it from now on.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

Remember the start of the season when Raul was playing good? When he played that absolute peach of a pass for Sturridge to score against Sunderland? When he actually tackled a lot and didn't pick up a lot of bookings? What happened

[Justin_3d 1,140]

Sell Meireles and don't look back!

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Don't understand some of you guys. Raul isn't first team material but I would definitely keep him as a squad player. I hate saying this more than anyone, but Josh hasn't had even one half decent game with Swansea, he's been very very poor. Essien should be sold. Lamps and Meireles should be squad players. Mikel & Romeu can split DM duties or even play both in the double pivot sometimes maybe. Ramires is def first team. We need to buy at least 1 world class creative mid next season.

[robdog 2,084]

Let me start by saying that both Allen and Britton would just walk into our starting eleven. I agree, Josh isn't yet good enough to be starting in a team competing for a top four finish in the PL, but then again, who in our midfield is? Definitely not Raul.

My prime argument about selling Raul is that Josh provide almost anything Raul does on the pitch (except looking like a mafia guy from Vice City ). So here is a brief comparison of the two, please feel free to dispute any point I make:

Defensively: Both seem to suffer in that domain. Josh's physical assets don't help him in tackles and most PL players seem to just brush him aside, but his sliding tackles are quite good. Raul is better at chasing the ball but seems unwilling to ever commit to a tackle making him a disaster at DM.

Passing: Josh clearly wins this round. His short and composed passing is what makes his such a great prospect while his through balls sometimes look like magic tricks. I think he needs a bit more confidence to start making more forward passes. Raul, on the other hand, have showed that he can sometimes create good chances for his teammates, but he often messes up the simple short pass. In games, (like city away) his passing was just shocking (or atrocious ).

Dribbling: Another point to Josh. He has excellent ball control and a good turn of pace while you'd rarely back Raul to get by a player, not that he often tries to.

Experience: This is where Raul has a major advantage on our young Josh. His PL experience is major asset in any game.

I would hardly say that Raul is miles ahead of Josh, which brings me to the conundrum: Why did our club send a nineteen year old who can easily turn into the next big thing and who desperately needs some playing time at the highest level to warm the bench in wales while he can't do much worse than the player we chose to start half of our matches?

Like your comparison there, but you forgot one topic that Tuftie Meireles would win. Shooting. You can't argue that fact. Tuftie has some nice goals from distance & vs Benfica he would have score, except from an nice save from Arthur who at full stretch on that save.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Like your comparison there, but you forgot one topic that Tuftie Meireles would win. Shooting. You can't argue that fact. Tuftie has some nice goals from distance & vs Benfica he would have score, except from an nice save from Arthur who at full stretch on that save.

True, but this hasn't, so far, been something we rely on. I guess in tight closed games that one give us another dimension, but it's hardly a "tie-breaker".