Everton have completed the signing of Wales captain Ashley Williams from Swansea for a reported fee of £11 million.
The 31-year-old centre back has signed a three-year contract with the Toffees to end his eight year spell at the Liberty Stadium.
Everyone at Swansea City would like to thank Ash for his tremendous service to the club. 👏 #ThankYouAsh pic.twitter.com/SO6W2oItjo
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) August 10, 2016
Following the announcement of his arrival, Williams told Everton’s official website: “I’ve had eight great years at Swansea and, for me, the new challenge was something I felt I needed, so I’m delighted to have joined Everton.
“Everton is a great club with an unbelievable manager – a world legend in football – and I believe the club is going in the right direction. This is something I wanted to be a part of.
“I look forward to seeing what the manager’s plans are for me and the team. He’s [Ronald Koeman] been one of the greatest centre-halves to ever play the game, so I look forward to learning from him and seeing what he can teach me.”
The former Swansea skipper, who is branded as one of the most consistent defenders in the Premier League for the past few seasons, is seen as a direct replacement for the departed English defender John Stones, following his £47.5 million move to Manchester City earlier this week.
Our latest signing certainly has some impressive statistics… #WelcomeAshley pic.twitter.com/IyEiDW9opn
— Everton (@Everton) August 10, 2016
Everton manager Koeman said: “We wanted to bring in a strong player in the central defence position, a player who knows the Premier League and Ashley fits the bill for us very well.
“He is an experienced defender and the kind of player we need in the team. He is a leader. He showed this at Swansea and he has shown it for his country and he is looking forward to his new challenge here at Everton.”
Williams becomes Ronaldo Koeman’s third signing at Everton following the arrivals of Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and midfielder Idrissa Gueye.
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