OPINION
Everton have surely made the right decision in allowing defender Ashley Williams to leave the club on a free transfer this summer.
Williams’ release from Everton at the end of his current £70,000-a-week contract [spotrac.com] which expires at the end of the month, was confirmed on the club’s official website on Friday.
The defender has been somewhat of a disappointment since making the move to Goodison Park from Swansea City, where he had been an impressive performer making over 300 appearances and helping the Welsh club earn promotion to the Premier League, in the summer of 2016.
However, Williams has failed to replicate the same sort of consistent and reliable performances he produced for Swansea at Everton, with the Wales international making 73, largely unconvincing, appearances for the Toffees since joining the club.
William endured an inconsistent campaign with Everton in the 2017/18 season, making 24 Premier League appearances as the Toffees conceded 58 goals with only one other side in the top half of the table that season conceding more.
That led to Everton allowing Williams to leave Goodison Park to join Championship side Stoke City on a season-long loan last summer, with the Wales international struggling to impress in the English second tier last term as Stoke finished 16th in the table following their relegation from the Premier League the season before.
Williams’ form for Stoke last season gave no indication that he should be awarded a new deal with Everton this summer, with the 34-year-old defender averaging just 1.2 tackles and 0.6 blocks per game [whoscored.com] in the Championship last season.
Therefore given Williams is approaching the end of his career at the age of 34, and was on £70,000-a-week Everton are making the right decision in allowing him to leave on a free transfer so that Marco Silva can use his wages to bring in another more reliable defender this summer.
It appeared as though the defender had little chance of featuring for Silva’s side again after being allowed to leave on loan last summer, and now Everton will be able to spend the summer searching for potential replacements, with fellow centre-back Phil Jagielka also leaving the club during the transfer window.