Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli has claimed that the club wanted to keep Raul Meireles and they did not ask the player to hand in a transfer request.
The 28-year-old Portuguese claimed last week that he did not wish to leave Anfield, but Comolli insists that the Reds were given no choice.
"I think Raul said it himself with what I've seen recently in the press," he said.
"Basically, he came to see me and said 'I want to leave, I want to play for another club'.
"Our intention was not to sell him but we were put in a corner a little bit when he put in a transfer request and said he wanted to go and that he didn't want to play for Liverpool anymore.”
Meireles joined Chelsea for a fee thought to be around £12m on the final day of the transfer window.
