Raul Meireles has revealed former Liverpool team-mate Dirk Kuyt helped convince him to quit Chelsea for Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

The 29-year-old Portuguese international completed his £8million move on Monday, penning a four-year deal at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

The midfielder, who will wear the No14 shirt for his new club in tribute to his daughter, admits he spoke to Kuyt before sealing his move to Istanbul.

The Dutch striker only joined the club himself earlier this summer afte ending his six year stay at Liverpool but has already been impressed with what he has seen.

“I can’t wait to get started, Fenerbahce is as big a club as Chelsea, Liverpool and Porto,” said Meireles. “I had a great season playing at Liverpool with Kuyt, he told me about Fenerbahce and encouraged me to make the move.”

“Kuyt has told be on several occasions that Istanbul is a beautiful city, I’m very excited about the prospect of playing here.”

Meireles does not view Fenerbahce as a step down from his previous clubs and believes the club have the quality to mount a challenge for honours on all fronts this season.

“Fenerbahce are a big club, everybody knows what kind of history the club has,” he said. “I’m a team player, I love to win but what’s more important is that the team wins.

“I can promise the fans that I will always give it my all and be a professional. For me it’s all about work, work, work. My goal is to win trophies here, I will do everything I can to try and make it happen.”

In all Meireles made 46 appearances for Chelsea after only joining from Liverpool last summer, scoring six goals.

 

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