Liverpool Transfer News: Ashley Williams Rumours Emerge from Brendan Rodgers Axe

Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was reportedly consistently blocked from signing Swansea City centre-back Ashley Williams when he was in charge at Anfield.

The Northern Irishman parted ways with Liverpool on Sunday following a poor start to the new Premier League season.

According to various reports (via Gareth Vincent of the South Wales Evening Post), Rodgers was eager to sign 31-year-old Williams but was denied his No. 1 target by the Liverpool hierarchy, as he was considered too old, and Mamadou Sakho, 25, was bought instead. 

Jon Super/Associated Press

Williams worked under Rodgers at Swansea before the manager took over at Liverpool in 2012. It is hardly a surprise that he wanted to be reunited with the Welshman as he has become one of the most reliable centre-backs in the Premier League.

That is not something that can be said for the Reds' current options in the position, with Sakho, Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren and Emre Can far from models of consistency.

Indeed, the Reds struggled in defence throughout the Rodgers era. Even in the 2013-14 Premier League season, when they lost out on the title by just two points, they conceded 50 goals. 

Williams could have been a steadying influence at Liverpool, but Rodgers was seemingly blocked from signing the defender by Liverpool's transfer committee.

The Mirror's David Anderson believes the Anfield transfer committee should take some of the blame for Liverpool's decline under Rodgers after the money raised from selling Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling was misspent.

However, according to BBC Sport's Phil McNulty, it is set to stay intact no matter who is appointed as Liverpool's next manager:

Whether Rodgers would have fared any better in his spell on Merseyside had he had exclusive final say over who was brought into the club is impossible to know. 

But it is clear that Rodgers was restricted in his transfer dealings and perhaps hamstrung by those he had to answer to.