All of a sudden it seems that just about every club in England wants to buy Swansea captain Ashley Williams. The 28 year old centre back has been a rock for The Swans this season and, depending on which source you read, he could join any one of Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool. The Guardian reports that Arsenal and Tottenham want him. Meanwhile, The Mirror seems unsure where he will end up but speculates that he is going to leave Swansea at the end of the season.
After reporting a few weeks back that Liverpool were in pole position for the player, due to Brendan Rodgers links with the club, The Mirror yesterday suggested that Manchester United were in for the player who Sir Alex Ferguson famously said could have killed RvP when he aimed the ball at The Dutchman’s head from close range at Old Trafford earlier in the season. Whether Manchester United would want to buy a 28 year old when they already have Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones coming through is highly debatable. So we shall discount Manchester United for now.
This leaves Arsenal and Tottenham who, The Guardian says are entering the chase for the player. Certainly Arsenal could do with another big character in the centre of their defence and, although Arsene Wenger usually likes to invest in young potential, he must now understand the need to bring in some fully formed quality to his side in the summer. Spurs have some good central defenders but, at around £10m Williams may be the perfect longer term partner for young Steven Caulker.
It’s nice to be wanted and Ashley Williams certianly seems to fall into that category at the moment. It does appear that he could well be off in the summer and that Swansea might become the victims of their overwhelming success this season under the tutelage of the brilliant Micheal Laudrup.
