Swansea face battle as QPR step up chase for Williams
Published:Swansea have already lost their goalkeeper Dorus De Vries to Wolves this summer and now they have a fight to hang on to one of their first-choice defenders.
A solid defence was one of the chief reasons for Swansea’s promotion from the Championship last season, as they conceded only 11 goals in their 23 league outings at the Liberty Stadium.
The form of De Vries was a key reason for this strong backbone, but so was that of former Wales captain Ashley Williams at the heart of the defence.
This form has now encouraged fellow Premier League newcomers QPR to finally make a bid, after having an interest in Williams for much of the summer.
However, the initial offer of QPR manager Neil Warnock is only £2m, which is unlikely to be accepted by Swansea, even though they have already completed a loan deal for Tottenham defender Steven Caulker.
In all reality it may take an offer of double this amount to really give Swansea a decision to make over the importance of Williams to their team.
Swansea will certainly be reluctant to lose many more players, with Darren Pratley already heading to Bolton and Fabio Borini deciding to join Parma following his successful loan stint in Wales last season.
Being newly-promoted clubs, Swansea and QPR are both among the early-season favourites to be relegated from the Premier League this season.
Play-off winners Swansea are 4/7 in the Premier League odds to suffer an immediate relegation back to the Championship.
QPR are in a far better financial position and are therefore valued at 7/4 to face the drop.
Alternatively, it is 5/4 that Swansea survive in their first ever Premier League season, with QPR 4/11 to stay up.
