Chelsea Seal £12m Liverpool's Raul Meireles Swoop

[emezico]

Chelsea made a deadline-beating Portuguese signing, Liverpool's Raul Meireles, but not the one their fans expected.

Andre Villas-Boas had hoped to land Uruguay defender Alvaro Pereira from his former club Porto, lining up a £22million deal.

But when Porto simply refused to drop their £26.5m asking price - amid claims it was an act of revenge for their capture of Villas-Boas - Chelsea completed the last-gasp £12m signing of Meireles on a four-year deal.

Chelsea switched targets after their final bid for Luka Modric of £30m plus Brazilian defender Alex was turned down flat by Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.