Monk: Liverpool made no offer to sign Williams

Ashley Williams: Swansea captain never the subject of official Liverpool bid

Swansea boss Garry Monk has played down claims that Liverpool’s failure to sign Ashley Williams contributed to the demise of Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.

The Reds axed Rodgers a fortnight ago after their 1-1 draw with Everton and have since replaced him with Jurgen Klopp.

Stories have since surfaced claiming Rodgers’ attempts to land Williams were blocked by the Reds’ transfer committee – and the fall out from that was partially to blame for the separation of ways between the Northern Irishman and Liverpool.

Williams was heavily linked to Liverpool before signing a new contract in the summer of 2014, while he was again mentioned as a target this summer.

But Monk doubts the validity of these claims and insists Rodgers never declared an interest in signing the centre-back.

"I don’t really think that information is particularly factual," Monk told the South Wales Evening Post.

"Whether they ( the transfer committee) did that (blocked a move), I think it’s open to debate.

"We’ve never received any offer for Ashley so it’s not a focus for us at all.

"When it comes to how much of that is fact, I just assume that it’s people putting two and two together because of the situation with Brendan and coming up with these kind of stories."

Williams has excelled for club and country in recent years and this week helped Wales qualify for the 2016 European Championships and Monk think his performances reflect well on the Swans.

"It’s great. They deserve it," added Monk.

"All of the international players have done excellently. They’ve served their countries well, they’ll be there in France next summer and that’s fantastic for us.

"To have players of that calibre doing well for their countries bodes well for the club.

"It shows us in a good light and that’s important.

"When you think about where we’ve come from and how we’ve progressed, all credit to them."