• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Ashley Williams

Forums Unread posts
Status
Not open for further replies.
LeTallecWiz

LeTallecWiz

Doos
Moderator
It seems we'll be linked with him until the Summer transfer window closes (with or without quotes!)... He's not a bad player, but we should sign players who are either better than him, or are at his level but in their early 20s. Our signings, in general, have been very solid with Rodgers. Let's continue that.


Kop top pick: Ashley Williams eyed up by Liverpool as Martin Skrtel replacement




Swansea%20City%20v%20Chelsea%20-%20Capital%20One%20Cup%20Semi-Final%20Second%20Leg-1552283

Brendan Rodgers has started planning for life after Martin Skrtel – and aims to challenge Manchester United for Ashley Williams, writes the Sunday People.

Skrtel, 28, stunned Liverpool this week by publicly questioning Rodgers' reasons for leaving him out after the FA Cup defeat to Oldham.

Skrtel said: “He gave me some explanation, but it’s hard to tell if it was the true reason he gave me. I don’t think it was and think there is something else behind it.”

He is almost certain to leave Anfield, with former club Zenit St Petersburg ready to offer him an exit route.

And Rodgers has told his board that the man he wants to sign is Swansea centre-back Williams.

He knows the player well from his own time at the Liberty Stadium and while the club are mainly looking for players in their early-20s, Rodgers believes it is important to also sign some more experienced players.

Last week we revealed Sir Alex Ferguson is keeping tabs on 28-year-old Williams, but following a meeting with the board this week, Liverpool are now going to chase him too. Arsenal are also interested in the Welsh international captain.

Liverpool will search for a new winger and another central midfielder as part of their summer transfer plan.
Click to expand...
 
He'd be fantastic to have as a squad player, but as ltw says, I'd rather get a young player at around the same level as him if we're looking for first choice players.
The Swansea or ex-swansea players he's signed so far have been meh, and the lad we missed out on that went to Spurs (can't spell his name) has been shite.
Rodgers needs to trust his scouting department and take a risk. Like with Coutinho.
 
I dont believe for a second Utd are after him, they have Evans Jones and Smalling who are all younger than Williams competing to be Vidics partner next season, why would they sign another centre half

Sounds like his agent is leaking stories trying to get him a move
 
Williams / his agent probably want a big payday before it's too late. It's probably now or never.

I'd rather we looked elsewhere to be honest. I'm sure you don't have to pay 15M or whatever it would cost for someone of Williams calibre.

And besides, the last two players we bought that Rodgers worked with at Swansea have not been obvious successes so far, which may be a tad unfair but there it is.
 
I do. If we already have young prospects for a position, FSG's own logic (which involves not blocking the best young players' progress by buying youngish players in the same position from elsewhere) would suggest bringing in an experienced player to fill the gap and help them develop. The problem is finding someone of around 28 who'll be the right price and wage. The last thing you do is bypass an existing young player by telling scouts to find us a young Hyppia. That's their job anyway, as a matter of course, but the youth system is supposed to work.
 
I'm not for signing a young, potentially good CB. A team should have the right mix of youth and experience and not be overloaded in one or the other. At the moment the defense is the weakest part of our game and signing some young CB isn't going to fix that. Where CB is concerned we need someone who can come in straight away and perform to a high standard, otherwise we won't stand a chance of CL football next year.
 
Agreed. Williams is good, but is he good enough?
And next to Agger he isnt that dominant no nonsense centre back I'd sign.

For the right fee then maybe, but there are better players out there for the same value.
 
In the short term, and following the loss of Carragher, he'd be okay. Hardly a must-buy. I can't see him being better than Skrtel, just more reliable over a season, which maybe amounts to the same thing.
 
Arsenal can have him:

Arsène Wenger wants to sign Ashley Williams from Swansea City at the end of the season, having lost faith in his central-defensive partnership of Thomas Vermaelen and Per Mertesacker.

Wenger has identified the Wales captain as someone with the leadership qualities to control and organise Arsenal's defence the way it was when the club built a large part of their success on having dominant figures such as Tony Adams, Martin Keown or Steve Bould in the heart of their back four.

Arsenal face competition for the 28-year-old Williams from Liverpool, with Brendan Rodgers also prioritising the signing of at least one established centre-half in the summer and keen to recruit a player he previously managed at Swansea. Williams, contracted until 2015, would cost in the region of £8m.

Williams has been an integral part of Swansea's success since joining from Stockport County in the Roberto Martínez era, establishing himself over the past five years as a key figure in defence with his reading of the game and ability to organise and take responsibility.

The absence of such a player has been repeatedly emphasised during some of Arsenal's key matches this season, not least the 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur that leaves Wenger's team seven points behind their rivals with 10 games remaining, and facing the distinct possibility of finishing behind them for the first time since Gerry Francis was the manager at White Hart Lane in 1995.
Wenger had already made up his mind that he needed a new centre-half well before the north London derby and, ideally, wanted to bring in someone in January. What happened at the weekend is hardly likely to have persuaded him to rethink bearing in mind the soft nature of Tottenham's goals and the way neither Vermaelen nor Mertesacker, experienced internationals with Belgium and Germany respectively, seem capable of taking charge of the team's defence.

Wenger, whose appointment of Bould as assistant manager this season failed to solve the problem, had hoped Vermaelen could be that controlling, organisational player but there are few signs of it happening. The Belgian was particularly culpable on Sunday when Arsenal's poor defensive line let in Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon to score in quick succession.

In Liverpool's case, Rodgers is preparing for Jamie Carragher's retirement and is not convinced by Martin Skrtel's performances. Rodgers has already spoken of wanting to "bring in some men" after a period of recruitment that has seen the club concentrate mostly on signing players of 23 or under. Sebastián Coates, the 22-year-old Uruguayan, could also be on his way out of Anfield and that means Rodgers might need as many as three new centre-backs to augment Daniel Agger.

Williams, who has played in all four professional divisions and began his career with Hednesford Town, fits the bill as someone who is not just one of the leading lights in Michael Laudrup's team but also a strong figure in the dressing room who will lead by example.
Click to expand...
 
Williams has improved rapidly over the Season, but it was hard not to, as he started out looking like Bambi on ice. Giving balls away in dangerous positions, much more frequent than Agger and Skrtel has done this Season mind, and often looking out of position on setpieces etc.

As said he's looking much better these past months, very strong on the ball, but as has been said I am not convinced he'd be a step forward compared to Skrtel and then it really would make little sense. Unless of course this newly found form of his is his normal standard and the first few months of the Season was him finding his feet.

Have anyone seen him play over the last Seasons, I've only watched Swansea regularly this Season.
 
Williams should only be allowed Anfield when he is visiting with Swansea. However the feeling in the dressing room at the moment, it would certainly deteriorate with the arrival of someone who states in his book that he wanted to hit Suarez and he is constantly diving, his bridges are burnt before he gets here. Plus he is too old, too average, Swansea have conceded the same amount as us this season, we should be aiming higher. Rodgers needs to look further than his ex-players. Hopefully this whole thread is the greatest WHOOSH ever and I've been WHOOSHED.
 
Who once said that signing the managers ex players is the sign of a bad manager?
 
If Wenger is linked with him then we should stay clear. There cannot be a more concrete proof that he is not top quality.
 
As others have said, even if he was a better defender, after the shite he spouted about Suarez and Liverpool at the beginning of the season, he can get to fuck.
 
Another ex-player Rodgers is also supposed to be interested in is Alex Pearce. His age, I suppose, would be more appealing to FSG.
 
Tabloids claiming he'll cost a minimum of £12m, revealed that Arsenal had a £9 million bid turned down in January and claimed that he is a boyhood Liverpool fan - once citing John Barnes as his favourite player. Turns 29 this August.
 
Not saying we couldn't do worse, we could be after someone like Dann, but I am quite confident we could indeed do better too. And admittedly I don't think Rodgers' former players so far has made the impact he would've liked - Sturridge aside - so on that account alone I won't be too excited with this signing.

I don't think the Sureaz row earlier this Season will be an issue however, water under the bridge and all that. They'll prob be bestest mates within a week.
 
We'd be fucking stupid to go for him for the reported 12m.
Let Arsenal have him. We need to go for a tall, strong centre back, comfortable on the ball, and YOUNG.
Not a 30 year old centre back that played most his career below the premere league.
If he came on the cheap it would be a different story but it doesn't look like it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

6cmRed
  • Locked
Liverpool Echo Neco Williams sends 'special' Nottingham Forest warning ahead of Liverpool reunion
Replies
0
Views
72
6cmRed
6cmRed
localny
    • Angry
    • Glum
Ticket Fraud @ Liverpool FC
Replies
17
Views
543
Dreambeliever
Dreambeliever
rurikbird
    • Like
  • Poll Poll
Robbo & Tsimi
2
Replies
47
Views
1K
binomial
binomial
Brizzle
    • Like
  • Locked
Pre Match Pre Match - Saints (A) - Sunday 2pm
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
163
Views
4K
Shadey
Shadey
Brizzle
    • Like
Pre Match Pre Match - Everton (A) - Sat 12:30
2 3 4 5 6
Replies
160
Views
4K
CueEye
CueEye
Back
Top Bottom