Everton confirm capture of Williams

John Stones could have learnt a lot from this guy and Ronald Koeman. But he won't.

No downside to this deal for me, even allowing for the fact that he's clearly only a two- or three-season solution.

Yes it might be short term (eg, not more than 2 years out of him), but that's exactly what we need right now – people who can play today and are solid, a leader on the field, and are strong at what they do.

This guy will break through walls to win the ball and that's what you want in your defenders. I am absolutely delighted! We have enough potential in some of the younger guys like Galloway and Holgate so I'm delighted we've bought in a ready made captain of the team – and I do hope we make him captain.

As much as I loved John Stones and wanted him to stay – getting Ashley Williams with 㿏m+ left is great business. Roll on Saturday.

We'll be a loss less fearful of handling crosses into the box with this guy at the helm.

I like the honesty too; not always perfect but doesn't leave anything out there. Good enough for me.

I can't see him going off with an upset tummy or bursting into tears at a service station to be honest.

Good to hear all the positive assessments. I shall be watching him closely, assuming he starts for us on Saturday. Is that enough time for him to be assimilated? And presumably we are getting him registered ahead of any deadline for the first round of Premier League fixtures this weekend?

I think he will be the first of at least 4 new faces in the squad which will no doubt give everyone a lift.

On another note I saw in yesterdays press that Tony Hibbert was slagging the club off about the way he was told his contract would not be renewed.

I agree that it probably wasn't the best way to deal with a long term servant, however the club had been very generous to him in terms of renewing contracts even though he spent most of the season in the treatment room!

Add in a RB and CAM and we can live with the keeper for now.

I know some will say it's a bit early for him, but if he is that good he would have had players in mind when he was at Leicester.

Hopefully they complete the Bolassie deal as he can make a difference up front because what they have now appears to lightweight and Barks is still a bit slow as a forward runner.

Everton's targets and needs will be different so wouldn't necessarily mean Walsh would go for or recommend rhe players from his list at Leicester

Give the guy a chance to get his feet under his desk and see the squad properly before having a moan about the guy, I'm guessing he's been brought in for the longer haul

Ron-Robert Zieler ٠,600,000
Raul Uche Undisclosed
Nampalys Mendy 㾹,000,000
Ahmed Musa 㾼,600,000
Bartosz Kapustka ٥,500,000

Maybe you should send in your CV to Mr Moshiri; I'm sure he will be more than happy to take on a cheaper option who can achieve better results?

It would seem in this window is that we have adopted a policy of bringing in experienced players with a proven track record of performing in the Premier League. That is good news because given our struggles in finishing eleventh for two successive seasons, we can ill afford many more gambles on unproven players from abroad.

Ashley Williams has played 29,062 of Swansea's 29,790 league minutes since May 2008.

You certainly are confused! As others have said, Walsh's targets for Leicester would've been identified well before the window opened.

His project for improving our playing squad will be a long-term endeavour, whereas we need some urgent short term fixes, i.e defenders who can defend.

Pretty sure, Koeman has solved half the problem but just hope he's not going with either of the 'iffy' keepers who played in the friendlies.

Link

Will add the steel we need for a couple of years until RK builds a younger backline with maybe Holgate, Galloway etc... good move this

Lyndon, Michael, you've still got Stones on the main page.

Cruciate on his debut then?!

I'm happy with the three new players we have so far. I think our next top priority should be a midfield playmaker. Mata would be ideal but someone like Ziyech or Sigurdson would do the trick. Right now it looks like Koeman is setting down solid foundations. We may need to get back into Europe before we can start attracting the marquee signings. I think Koeman will build us back up over the next few transfer windows. Not a 'project' but a gradual strengthening and improving of quality.

My match going Swans friend's view:

"The last two seasons he's been error prone and quick to bollock others, rather than look at himself. Quality leader, but heard the dressing room was getting a bit tired of his leadership. And awful on corners last season.

"He wanted four years, but we only offered two, so your deal makes sense to him, plus we've had eight years of him and he only cost us 𧸖k."

Richard Gough was an OAP when he joined us, but anyone who recalls the Campbell derby in 1999 will remember that he had snidey Owen in his pocket all night.

Now bring on more signings of players who go straight in the first team please.

Interesting perspective. Shame young John didn't see it like that. Seems more wrapped up in the modern frenzy to work for the "super coaches" such as Mourinho or Pep. Probably an age / generation thing.

Also, what was really refreshing was Williams' reference to Swansea. How respectful and dignified; rare to see but refreshing in the modern game. Did Stones give us a mention? If so I missed it.

City thought they bought a star, how wrong can they be.

John Stones is a right arse hole, he won't aim for row Zee.

We stung city for £50 million and now we've bought Ashley ..bought Ashleee, we have bought Ashley...bought Ashleee, Woah Woah Woah Woah woah.

I'll get me coat!!

This is in no way a dig at John Stones, by the way

But Jack Rodwell Mk 2 is history.

Welcome Ash. Leader on and off the pitch just what we need..

Outstanding stats a true warrior.

Cymru am byth :)

Or...will we?

Link

Based on last season, we are better off on the pitch as well as in the bank.

Already feel more confident about opposition corners and crosses. To see Gunners fans (thanks Eugene for the link) criticising Wenger for missing out on Williams should only confirm how highly this guy is rated around the league.

Bolasie appears to be a done deal, Kone still highly linked, both also appear good signings. No doubt we will have improved the first team come the end of the window.
Still short a world class keeper and, for me, a creative central midfielder (sorry Ross) but optimism is high.

If Rom also gets his desired move, I think the blow from losing another individual will be easily tempered with another huge transfer fee that can be wisely reinvested on several quality reinforcements.

Our starting line up may soon be unrecognisable from last season. And that can only be a good thing.

Frankly we have badly needed someone to shout at our defenders and those in front of them. I know we are not signing a new John Charles but in terms of getting back to the basics of defending this signing seems like a move in the right direction.

Rob (84) Box A for effort mate!

My take on our CB position is that like most others, I enjoyed watching (some aspects of) John Stones's play. That said, the primary role of a defender is to defend – on too many occasions Stones failed to do that to the standard expected.

I am hopeful that Ashley Williams will not fail us. Defenders are there to do a job, not entertain fans – they do not put bums on seats, that is the role of attack minded players.

To summarise, I have mixed feelings about Stones's departure but have no such doubts about AW joining us.

Williams is most definitely not the answer. A decent signing because he a very decent professional, but that can't be it surely? With Jags over the top, we need a younger man. Funes Mori has been cruelly exposed at times. He was rag-dolled on several occasions last season.

Our defence will improve by virtue of the fact that Martinez is no longer in charge, but we are miles away. Williams would be great as a back up but number one defender? The guys thirty two, we need another one in.

Over the past 3 seasons in Premier League, Williams ranks as follows:

Blocks - 1st
Clearances - 1st
Interceptions - 1st
Headers won - 9th

He has only missed 9 games in the past 8 years.

He is a natural leader.

He almost definitely IS the answer for the next few years! I do agree that we need another CB, which im sure we are working on.

But when you sit down and analyse the DVDs of the last two seasons you're alarmed at the number of goals conceded and the amount of points lost from winning positions and how soft the centre is. So it's a no-brainer where the improvements need to start.

Now don't forget that you were one of the greatest football playing CB to ever play the game, so you getting the defending right will be your priority. Quite simply Stones for all his silky skills and Cryuff turns, defensively isn't up to standard, and you need to sign an organiser, a leader, and a CB who defends – and you've just signed the most consistent CB in the EPL of the last 5 seasons.

Congrats Ron.

Any one of those guys would improve our defence A LOT, as will Williams.

If I were a Premier League striker, would I rather play against Ashley Williams or John Stones??

No-brainer for me. If anyone thinks it would be easier to play against Williams, I'd be interested to hear your reasons why...

Or as some out it Pep Guadiola has taken a punt on JS and if it doesn't work out so what it's only 㿛.5M !!

Come on fellas Pep Guadiola is no fool , he clearly rates JS and it would not surprise me if he sees JS maybe playing in a more advance role , time will tell ...

He has the potential to be great just like Rodwell but for some reason a lot of expensive players also flop particularly at City. Sterling is not the player he was, Scott Sinclair, Bony, Zdecko etc etc.

I don't know whether its the bling bling lifestyle but something has always been wrong at City for certain players so at 47.5m it was a good deal for Everton for someone that would sooner listen to Joe Hart and Raheem Sterling than his own club management.

Pep also wanted David Luiz when he was at Barcelona. He initially was interested in him at Bayern also. Do you really think David Luiz is a great defender? He has many of the same bad traits of Stones, except Luiz isn't afraid of contact.

Perhaps also, Pep doesn't care if his defenders can defend or not so long as they can play out of the back. Seems at Barca, they were pretty confident that if you press high, retain possession and win it back if you lose it, then the exposure of the backs to actually defend is limited. Pep wanted backs to play the ball as part of the offensive strategy. Plus, Barca could outscore all but Real Madrid in the then, two team league, he operated in.

I think Ahly Wiliams is a great buy for what we need at the moment – some one who will bring some solidity and consistency to the defence immediately. This is a short term solution to an immediate problem which will allow RK to continue with his overhaul with a bit more comfort.

Good business.

Regardless of what happened with Stones, this is a good signing in its own right. Whether he's captain or not, we have another leader in the team.

The reason you are very careful to only go back three years is because you will be aware that Williams for most of his career before that was not deemed good enough for the premiership. not one of the twenty teams wanted him.

He is a very fine pro his clearance and block stats will confirm he has worked very hard at his game, but he is no Stones, he is not in the same league, that is why two of the games top managers have wanted to pay top dollar for Stones and Williams has not, throughout his career attracted as much as a second glance from the big boys.

I wonder how this clearly disciplined professional would have done playing for a manager who's criminal neglect of the defensive side of the game had all but destroyed the standing of top players like Baines, Coleman, Jagielka – all deemed light years ahead of Williams when Martinez arrived. That is what Stones has had had to do since he was 19... Yet he was still breaking into the England team at a time when most centre halves have not made their debuts at club level yet . .he was still being courted by the elite.

Football has moved on, it is a more sophisticated game than when we merely expected our attackers to attack and our defenders to defend. the get-rid-of-the-fucker attitude so in evidence on this thread alone, will help you grind out some very hard fought battles, but it will never, ever again win a trophy at top level.

A player is worth what somebody is prepared to pay for him. In today's market John Stones is deemed to be 5 times more valuable than Williams (like it or not, its a fact) To those who are rejoicing a this wonderfully shrewd bit of business I would suggest you take another look in a year, that gap will have widened. In two years time Williams will be worthless, Stones will still not have reached his peak. "Good business"? ...My arse!

I like Ashley Williams, he is a shining example of what can be achieved through hard work and discipline, he has earned his shot at the big time and I look forward to seeing him play in a blue shirt. but lets not kid ourselves here, he is definitely NOT the answer, he is a worryingly short term solution to a long term problem... a nice little sweetener to disguise the fact that we are STILL expecting our managers to bring in at least as much as they spend. The already fabled £100m war chest is clearly an amount Koeman will be expected to generate himself.

I'm smiling inside . . honest

Plenty I could take issue with in your post but there are a couple of things that stick out as, well, just not relevant.

What on earth does it matter that Williams was not rated as a top player three years ago? What does that have to do with anything at all? Some players develop later than others. It is as relevant as saying John Stones was playing for Barnsley three years ago. So what? Far more relevant that Williams has been much more consistent and a better defender over the past three years for me when we are talking about going into season 2016-17.

Frankly I don't care whether John Stones is the new Franz Beckenbauer in three years (I seriously doubt it by the way), it isn't what we need right now. We'll replace Williams and hopefully with improvement in performances in the next two or three seasons will be a better draw to upgrade our purchases at that time. Stones as our central defender would have me nervous for next season and I wouldn't be assured by any amount of people telling me "he's gonna be a great defender one day" when he had Kane running at him, or he misplaces a pass straight to Vardy, or he makes a questionable late tackle in our box rather than jockeying a defender. Or the opposition gets a corner. At any time!!

If we had kept Stones and signed Williams as well who do you honestly think would be getting more game time next season? Meanwhile Stones runs down his contract by another year (obviously he was never signing another one) and we end up getting less for him. Your arse notwithstanding, that's good business for me, not clouded by emotion based on what he may or may not be in three years as there is absolutely no chance he would be playing for us then anyway. His mind was made up, watch his interview.

As for "but it will never, ever again win a trophy at top level.", I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous as a statement of certainty, as Wes Morgan and Robert Huth would no doubt remind you.

Graham Taylor isn't Ronald's biggest fan either.

Nor is Craig Short, as I can testify first hand!

Many of us, including me, on TW have been critical of John the last year or two, his playing style and perceived lack of defensive nous, perceived lack of positional awareness. We can probably remember his 'mistakes'

It's a shame we can't remember his good points. There were many examples of some great performances where he out thought and kept players out of the game. I am thinking the easy Naismith hat-trick game against an admittedly out-of-soughts Chelsea. Coata never got a look in. I haven't checked so I hope I am right that they both played. :)

Cruyff turns etc. Ok. Perhaps not a gd example in the context of the match he did it in.

The Panenka penalty in the pre-season friendly.

As has also been said by many. He's not the finished article yet. He will likely become a great player. Pity it won't be with us.

Perhaps a more Moyes like attitude to defending instead of Martinez would have helped him the last 2 years.

It's up to us as a club to provide the kind of environment that players want to thrive in and not leave which means challenging and winning a trophy or two. Despite how poor we were in most games last year we reached 2 semis last year. Next priority getting to the final. Then winning it!

We need no-nonsense defenders at the moment, eg Ashley Williams .

Joe@120 mentions Morgan and Huth. Not pretty but know a bit about defending including the dark arts of the game. Leicester knew what they were doing. Imagine it wasn't pleasant playing Ranieri's side.

Onwards and upwards.

We are where we are at the moment and whilst Ashley Williams may well not set the pulse racing for some he is exactly what we need at the moment. Someone who will defend as if his life depended on it and someone who will clear the ball when necessary and not try to be a smartarse and get caught in possession time and again. Some people may well see it as a negative that someone of Stones ability (and to be fair we all see that he has football ability) has chosen to seek pastures new, but he has done us a favour by going somewhere else. We need solidity at the moment. Maybe Koeman could have instilled that in him but whether he wanted that instilled in him is a different matter. At Citeh he will be able to fuck around during with the ball and play out from the back as much as he wants with Guardiolas system. That system relies on the team having the lions share of possession and also having quality players that can score when in position. We don't have that, whether Citeh can do that on a regular basis remains to be seen but Stones will be able to operate as he has been.

When we have defensive solidity and when we start to operate as a team then we can start to attract the better players back to Goodison. We are actually a poor team and are in need of a lot of restructure. Hopefully Koeman is the man to do that and getting rid of Stones for a vast amount considering how mediocre he was last season is great business

And best wishes to Ashley - welcome, we need you!

He hasn't even played for us yet, but I already know he's what we needed. A leader. A speaker. A Beast who won't tolerate shit from his opponents. An out and out defender and a man who will always give it his all.

Welcome to the team Ashley Williams. Make yourself at home.

Well, my point isn't about Stones, it's about City, but for the record, anyone saying 'Stones wasn't a good defender' is clueless. He was a very young feller who took his chance when it came and he started brilliantly for us, truly wonderful performances showing brains, skill and calm. And who knows, had the (huge, head-fucking) distractions of Chelsea, England, City etc not got in the way, his performances may not have suffered. But with these distractions and the lack of coaching from RM and his team, suffer they definitely did.

Re why Man City want him – well they obviously (and correctly imo) rate his talent and are probably guessing that once they have him, they'll have a smart lad with a clear, uncluttered, relaxed brain (ie: he won't be reading about himself being poached every single fucking day). Plus they obviously think they'll have a lad who can be improved with better (some..any) coaching.

But re the massive figure of £47.5m, people need to remember that the only limit on City's spending are the (toothless! *) 'financial fair-play' rules on club spending.

Sheikh Mansour (City) doesn't have 'loads of money', he has, in real terms, unlimited money. He bought the entire City 'empire' for £265m then a while later, sold just 13% of it for the exact same amount.

£47.5m to a feller worth over £20 billion?

Fuck-all (he probably makes £10m a day).

* In 2014, City were fined more than Stones cost:- Link and a transfer cap was imposed for the following season...which they completely ignored.