ground in 11 years. On 31 August, however, he asked to be transfer listed. Chelsea With Chelsea in the market for a midfielder following a long-term injury to Michael Essien, and an unsuccessful bid to acquire Luka Modrić from Tottenham Hotspur, the former signed Meireles to a four-year deal on 31 August 2011, for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £12 million. He chose the squad number 16, due to the fact he often wore it when on international duty, and later claimed he never wanted to leave Liverpool but that the chance to work with André Villas-Boas, with whom he had spent a short period of time at Porto, was too good an opportunity to turn down. Meireles made his debut on 10 September 2011 against Sunderland, which ended in a 2–1 away win with him setting up Daniel Sturridge's goal with a long pass. In the following month, he scored his first goal for the club during a Champions League group stage 5–0 defeat of K.R.C. Genk. On 12 December, he netted for the first time in the domestic league to contribute to a 2–1 home victory against league leaders Manchester City also at Stamford Bridge. On 18 March 2012, Meireles scored a goal and provided two assists to Torres, who ended his 24-game goal drought in the 5–2 home triumph against Leicester City for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. On 4 April, he scored a belter in the final minutes of a Champions League quarter-final 2–1 victory over Benfica, setting up a last-four tie with reigning champions FC Barcelona; he won his first title in English football on 5 May, after a 2–1 win against his former club Liverpool in the FA Cup final where he replaced Ramires for the last 15 minutes. He sat out the Champions League final against FC Bayern Munich by receiving a yellow card against Barcelona at Camp Nou, but was still given a medal for his participation after the 4–3 victory on penalties. Fenerbahçe On 3 September 2012, Meireles was sold to Fenerbahçe SK for £8 million. He was to earn €3 million in his first season, in addition to a €10,000 per-match bonus. He scored his first goal for the Turkish club on 4 October, in a 4–2 victory at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Europa League group stage. His first in the Süper Lig came