Defender's quip at Yeovil may indicate wheels are in motion over move to Emirates
As far as unsubstantiated gossip goes, this very much falls into that category. That being said, I'm not going to hide behind "The Swansea Way understands..." like most media outlets tend to, and while there's no point me naming who told me this (as it's inconsequential) I will explain how I came to hear it.
A friend traveled to Huish Park to watch the Swans take on Yeovil, and approached Ashley Williams with a view to getting a few things signed for the kids. Feeling cheeky, he said to Ash "Can I get a signature before your move to Arsenal?", to which the Swansea captain simply responded with a smile. When the fan carried on to say "Don't worry, we'll have a whip-around to keep you at the Swans", he responded "It'd have to be a pretty big whip-around...", indicating he knows the kind of wages he could expect if he moved to North London.
Now, I'm not saying this is happening - I'm just trying to put 2 plus 2 together, but when you couple that with the rumours surrounding our interest in Espanyol defender Hector Moreno it doesn't paint a picture which includes Ashley Williams in a Swansea shirt. Sad times. Hopefully I'm wrong on this and I'm getting worked up over nothing, but it does seem to fit. As I've said before, I, and most other fans wouldn't begrudge him the move, and he'll get nothing but my best wishes should he depart; I just really don't want him to!
Earlier this weekend he'd been quoted by Skysports as saying he takes interest from bigger clubs "as a compliment":
"It means you're doing something right and people are talking about you at least. I take it as a compliment. I don't really read the papers and that type of thing. You don't really know, as that's the future, and I can't really say. Different circumstances determine different things.
"I'm working hard trying to talk things through with the squad and the manager on the field, and trying to iron out a few things for the season." Ashley Williams
So, about that whip-around...
I know this is all circumstantial, but I'd be amazed if Arsenal haven't, by this point, approached us. They have one fit centre-back, and if other rumours are to be believed we've already started bidding on a replacement. Fingers crossed it's all hyperbole, but whereas normally I refuse to believe this kind of thing I'm starting to think it's now sadly just a matter of time before we hear of a big, big offer for the ex-Stockport central-defender.
Let's hope Thomas Vermaelen makes a miraculous recovery, eh?...