There has been plenty of speculation this summer that Williams would be a target of Everton and Roberto Martinez should John Stones move to Chelsea but with the Toffees turning down the transfer request of Stones and Williams declaring he is going nowhere this one is clearly a closed chapter.
The amusement though will be that Wales manager Chris Coleman has wondered whether Everton are any better than Swansea. The Swans finished above them last season and are expected to do the same this time around so – as we discussed in the summer – it just doesn’t make sense why Ashley would want to go anywhere as he stated himself.
This is a massive year for him with the Euro 2016 finals around the corner and with over 300 appearance for the Swans he will get many more and I think Coleman is right in that it would only be a Champions league team who would have any hope or luring him away.
Coleman said “With Ash, Everton and Swansea, you have to ask, are Everton going to finish above Swansea this season?
“I know Everton have a great history and, no disrespect to them, but are they better than Swansea right now? For me, Ashley is a top-four club player.
“He loves it at Swansea but, like anybody else, if a club who can win the league and are in the Champions League came in for him, it would be very hard to turn down.
“He’s one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and the Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world.
“When I see clubs paying huge amounts for a central defender, I wonder why the hell are they paying that much and still overlooking Ashley.”
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