{"id":238220,"date":"2016-08-10T17:35:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T17:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=238220"},"modified":"2016-08-10T17:35:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T17:35:16","slug":"everton-sign-swansea-defender-ashley-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/08\/everton-sign-swansea-defender-ashley-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Everton sign Swansea defender Ashley Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sp-story-body__introduction\">Everton have signed Wales captain Ashley Williams from Premier League rivals Swansea for an undisclosed fee, thought to be \u00a312m.<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old defender is new manager Ronald Koeman&#8217;s third summer purchase after Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.<\/p>\n<p>They are also in talks to sign Crystal Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie and Sunderland defender Lamine Kone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe the club is going in the right direction,&#8221; said Williams.<\/p>\n<p>The defender, who has agreed a three-year deal with the Merseyside club, said he was keen to work with former Netherlands international Koeman.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been one of the greatest centre-halves to ever play the game, so I look forward to learning from him,&#8221; Williams told the club&#8217;s website.<i class=\"sp-story-body__external-link-icon gelicon gelicon--external\"><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Swansea had rejected an earlier \u00a310m bid from Everton.<\/p>\n<p>The signing comes a day after England defender John Stones left Goodison Park to join Manchester City for \u00a347.5m.<\/p>\n<p>Williams featured in Wales&#8217; run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and has not played any pre-season games following an extended break.<\/p>\n<p>He spent eight years with the Swans, playing more than 300 games after joining for \u00a3300,000 from Stockport in March 2008.<\/p>\n<p>As well as seeking deals for Ivory Coast international Kone and DR Congo&#8217;s Bolasie, both 27, Everton are also determined to keep Romelu Lukaku.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old Belgium striker has three years remaining on his contract at Everton, and is reported to be<i class=\"sp-story-body__external-link-icon gelicon gelicon--external\"><\/i> interesting his former club Chelsea.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everton have signed Wales captain Ashley Williams from Premier League rivals Swansea for an undisclosed fee, thought to be \u00a312m. The 31-year-old defender is new manager Ronald Koeman&#8217;s third summer purchase after Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye and goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg. They are also in talks to sign Crystal Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie and Sunderland defender [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[142],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Everton sign Swansea defender Ashley Williams - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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