Hodgson Satisfied With Summer Transfer Dealings

Roy Hodgson today declared
himself satisfied with
Liverpool's summer transfer
dealings - and insisted new
boys Raul Meireles and Paul
Konchesky will prove to be
quality additions to his squad.
With the transfer window now
closed until January and
Liverpool having submitted their
Barclays Premier League squad,
Hodgson insists he is happy with
the players at his disposal and is
pleased the Reds were able to act
quickly to fill the midfield gap left
by Javier Mascherano.
"It was important to sign a
quality midfielder when we lost
Javier," said Hodgson. "We had
half prepared for his departure
by jumping in to sign Christian
Poulsen when he became
available, but it was important
for us to keep strong in that
area.
"We loaned out Alberto Aquilani
and so we are pleased to have
been able to bring in Meireles. He
is experienced in the Champions
League, in international football
and has had proven success at
Porto. He is an all-round
midfielder who is capable of
playing in all three of the central
midfield positions.
"He has a pedigree which we
researched, followed and
studied. I followed him at my
previous club so it was good
when I heard he could be
available and that we could do
the business quickly.
"He has played a lot of
international football so settling
into the English game won't be a
major problem. Our public are
sensible people and they realise
that having played all of his
career in Portugal, it may take a
bit of time. We have that time. He
will adjust, but whether it's from
the first moment we'll have to
wait and see."
One player who won't need time
to adjust to life in the Barclays
Premier League is fellow new
boy Paul Konchesky, who arrived
from Fulham on transfer deadline
day.
Despite speculation for many
weeks that the England defender
would be Anfield bound,
Hodgson admits he was
delighted to finally welcome his
former player to the club.

"It was difficult because Fulham
were anxious to keep him and
were against letting him go," he
said. "Our good fortune was he
was in the last year of his
contract and he made it clear
that if they didn't let him go he
wouldn't sign a new contract.
That was useful for us because
otherwise it would have been
very difficult to get him.
"There aren't many quality left-
backs around in the world, never
mind in England - so to find an
English one who can go straight
into the team without any
adjustment problems is a big
advantage.
"He is a player I know, a player I
have worked with and he knows
the way we try to play and the
things we try to do. That's
another little advantage, but the
main reason for bringing him
here is because we think he's a
good player and he's the right
man for the job."
With players arriving on new
deals, leaving permanently, and
loan deals being struck, Anfield
was a hive of transfer activity
before the window slammed
shut - and Hodgson admits he is
much happier with the squad he
now has at his disposal.
"We should be very happy," he
said. "A lot of hard work has
gone in and you have to mention
Christian Purslow and Eduardo
Macia, who both worked really
hard during the transfer window
to do the deals I wanted to
happen but also to do deals for
quite a few players to leave the
club.
"We were unbelievably
overstaffed when I came to the
club and, if the truth be known,
we still are overstaffed. It was
just as big a job making sure
some of the players who never
feature for the first team move
on and that we limit our squad
to players who are either in the
frame to play first-team football
or who have a bright future who
are still anxious to play academy
and reserve team football.
"We don't want that middle
group who are too old for
reserve football but are not
serving any purpose for the first
team because they never
feature."