New Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles is denying claims that he moved to Stamford Bridge from Anfield for the money, which seems a little bit odd because as far as I can tell he totally wanted more money than Liverpool were paying. Not that that's a bad thing - while he was being paid handsomely compared to most humans on account of being a Premier League footballer, £1.6M a season for a regular Portugal international and Liverpool regular is more than a little bit low if you're just looking at footballers. Chelsea have undoubtedly bumped that up a bit.

Anyway, here's Raul:

These are things that happen in football. I can only say good things about Liverpool, it was a fantastic year. People think I am a Judas and that it was because of the money. It was not because of that, I will explain it later, things are still fresh.

It all happened very fast. I am not the only one to blame for my exit from Liverpool, but I will never stop loving the club and I have great friends there. The most important thing is to give my all every time and try to help Chelsea win titles.

-Source: ESPN Soccernet.

There are, of course, several reasons to want to leave Liverpool for Chelsea that don't involve money - the most obvious is that the club is in a better position to win things than even a resurgent Liverpool. Maybe he likes Andre Villas-Boas. Maybe Fernando Torres is his improbably best friend, or the things he's heard about the way Chelsea run appeal to him more.

But yeah, it's probably the money. Chelsea have probably doubled his wages to around £60,000 a week, which is well worth a move, especially when that was the sort of cash originally promised to him at Anfield. Don't worry, Raul. I won't judge you. Then again, neither should Liverpool fans - Harry Redknapp and Daniel Levy have showed that it's perfectly possible (and reasonable) to say 'no' to a player under contract with a club who wishes to leave - and Liverpool did not.