Liverpool signed a 4-year contract with Portugal and Porto midfielder Raul Meireles.

The Reds have paid 14m euros (£11.5m) for the 27-year-old who has 38 caps for Portugal.

The Portuguese is a combative player and is seen as a natural replacement for Javier Mascherano, who is poised to complete a move to Barcelona.

“Liverpool are a historic club and I am happy for the move. Roy Hodgson was key because he worked so hard to get me,” Meireles told the Liverpool website.

“It has been a long time coming but finally I have achieved my dream of playing in England.”

Meireles has joined Milan Jovanovic, Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson in moving to Anfield this summer.

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The troubled English club Aston Villa’s woes continued as they were dumped out of the Europa League with Scottish hopes also suffering a triple wipeout.

Villa, who saw Martin O’Neill quit as coach on the eve of the Premier League kick-off and James Milner sold to Manchester City, were beaten 3-2 by Rapid Vienna in their play-off second leg.

That gave the Austrians a 4-3 aggregate win to follow up their victory over the Midlanders in last season’s tournament.

Villa twice led on Thursday and also missed a penalty as they joined the Scottish trio of Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell in being forced to write off their European hopes for another season.

Liverpool and Manchester City were left as Britain’s only representatives in Friday’s draw for the group stages of Europe’s second tier tournament.

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Carlos Tevez score two goals last night as Manchester City brushed Liverpool aside at Eastlands. City won 3 – 0.

James Milner, on his City debut, set up his former Aston Villa team-mate Gareth Barry to side-foot in the first goal in the 13th minute.

And the Argentina striker got on the end of Micah Richards’s header seven minutes into the second half.

Liverpool — without Javier Mascherano amid reports the Argentina international was on his way to Barcelona — saw captain Steven Gerrard hit the post with a powerful shot.

And in the ensuing scramble City goalkeeper Joe Hart made a fine double save to deny both David Ngog and Fernando Torres.

Tevez made the game safe from the penalty spot after Adam Johnson was brought down by Martin Skrtel.

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The summer transfer window has traditionally seen a flurry of activity in the English Premier League. This season though has seen a fairly quite market, especially if you remove Manchester City. The Eastlands side have spent over £ 100 million so far and they’re not quite done yet. Whilst the blue side in Manchester have bought in a dazzling array of talent, the likes of Yaya Toure and David Silva, who has been the best purchase so far? I don’t think it’s been Eastlanders, infact I think they’ve made the worst purchase. The deal that bought in James Milner saw them depart with Stephen Ireland, a fantastic prospect that is yet to reach his potential. Oh and £ 24 million, but it is Manchester City. Their second most expoensive signing, mario Balotelli, will probably be their best buy if Mancini can keep the young Italian disciplined.

Joe Cole was signed by Liverpool on a free and has to be one of the bargains of the window. Even if his wages are some what high, his overall cost to the club is going to be relatively cheap. He’s a fantastically gifted player and if he can remain injury free he’ll certainly help Liverpool push for honours. Another new Liverpool player that may well blossom as the season progresses is Christian Poulsen. The Danish international was an effective contributor as he helped his country qualify for the World Cup and progress to the knock out stages.

I am not one to normally make predictions but I think that Javier Hernandez will be the best buy of the season. The talented youngster is one of many Mexicans now plying his trade in English football. Carlos Vela and Giovanni Dos Santos are the other Mexicans playing in the league, but Hernandez is sure to be the best of them.

Who’s been you’re purchase of the transfer window so far?

Pic : Football 365

Liverpool beat Turkish club Trabzonspor 1 – 0 in the Europa League playoff round first leg at Anfield, with Joe Cole missing a penalty which could’ve helped his side to a better lead.

On a night featuring 35 ties littered with some of the biggest names in European club football and many obscure ones trying to make a name for themselves, Liverpool gained a narrow advantage to take to Turkey next week when the winners on aggregate will move into 48-team group phase.

Italian giants Juventus, who like Liverpool find themselves chasing silverware in the continent’s secondary competition after failing to qualify for the Champions League, sneaked a 2-1 victory in Austria against Sturm Graz.

Porto, CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris St Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Celtic all scored comfortable first leg victories while big-spending Manchester City got their European season up and running with a 1-0 away victory against Romanian side FC Timisoara — Mario Balotelli scoring on his debut after signing last week from Inter Milan.

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Liverpool, Juventus and Manchester City are the three top-rank teams of the Europa League that are hoping to avoid an early blow to their European ambitions on Thursday.

A welter of high-profile clubs from across the continent will compete in the first-leg matches of the tournament’s play-off round, all gunning for one of 37 slots in the group phase alongside defending champions Atletico Madrid.

Roy Hodgson was on the losing side in last year’s final after leading Fulham to a surprise appearance in the decider, but the experienced English coach has since jumped ship to Liverpool.

His new employers continue their assault on this season’s competition against Trabzonspor, and Hodgson said he will select holding midfielder Javier Mascherano to face the Turkish side despite his desire to leave the club.

“Of course I would play him on Thursday,” said Hodgson, whose side drew 1-1 at home to Arsenal in their Premier League opener on Sunday.

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Fernando Torres is glad to be back at Liverpool after his World Cup-winning summer with Spain, dismissing suggestions that he was seeking a transfer in a bid to find Champions League football.

“I am really happy to be back, really happy to stay with all my team mates. My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed,” the striker told the club’s website (www.liverpoolfc.tv) after his first training session.

“I felt at home from the first day (I signed). I feel the fans love me and everyone knows I am really happy here and really happy to play at Anfield.

With Roy Hodgson taking over as manager from Rafa Benitez and the club in the middle of takeover talks, Torres said he is focused entirely on bringing trophies to Anfield.

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Liverpool beat Tottenham and Arsenal off in the race to sign 28-year old Joe Cole on a free transfer.

Joe Cole’s contract ended with Chelsea this summer.

Joe is to undergo a medical before the transfer is completed, but he is set to sign a four year deal at Anfield.  It is believed that Liverpool have been tracking the player for the last few months, watching to see if he would sign an extension with Chelsea.

A statement from Liverpool FC reads:

‘Liverpool FC are delighted to confirm the signing of Joe Cole on a four-year deal.

‘The England midfielder has agreed personal terms with the Reds and will undergo a medical in the next 48 hours.

‘Cole becomes the club’s second signing of the summer after Milan Jovanovic.

With Yossi Benayoun having travelled in the opposite direction earlier this month, this deal can be seen as a direct replacement.

In the past two seasons Joe has made 39 Premier League appearances, and has scored 4 times.

Source: anfield-online.co.uk

Liverpool confirmed yesterday that the Serbian striker Milan Jovanovic have been signed for three years by the Merseyside Club.

The 29-year-old forward was one of Serbia’s star performers at the World Cup, scoring the winner in a shock win over Germany. He penned a three-year deal at Melwood today before meeting some of his new teammates.

He said: “It is an honour for me to sign for one of the biggest clubs in football.

“I cannot wait to start working with the manager and I’m looking forward to joining up with my new teammates on our Swiss training camp.”

Jovanovic spent the previous four years at Standard Liege, where he won Belgian Footballer of the Year in 2008 and the Golden Shoe in 2009.

Source: liverpoolfc.tv

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has officially joined Liverpool Football Club as their new manager.

“The 62-year-old former Fulham, Inter Milan and Switzerland manager has agreed terms with the club on a three-year contract and becomes the 18th manager in our history,” the club said in a statement.

It added that Hodgson would begin his management duties as early as Thursday by overseeing the first day of pre-season training at the club.

Hodgson takes over from Rafael Benitez, who quit Anfield last month after a disappointing season saw them finish seventh in the table.

“This is the biggest job in club football and I’m honoured to be taking on the role of manager of Britain’s most successful football club,” said Hodgson.

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