Everton’s Williams happy to learn from Jagielka

Everton’s summer signing Ashley Williams is enjoying working with Phil Jagielka and is confident he can learn from his central-defensive partner despite being north of 30.

Signed from Swansea City after the Everton sold John Stones, Williams, 32, is often the elder statesman of his defensive partners but Jagielka is two years his senior at 34.

The partnership’s appears to be working though as the Toffees have only conceded eight goals in their opening nine Premier League games under new manager Ronald Koeman.

And Williams said the opportunity to work with someone older than him is proving to be a great learning curve even at this stage of his career.

“Usually, for me, I’m the more experienced of the two,” he said.

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

“He (Jagielka) has got loads of experience at international level and in the Premier League, so it’s great to work with him.

“He’s a good talker as well and that means we can communicate very well on the pitch.

“I can definitely learn from him. He’s got a different way of working sometimes and there’s a difference in how he likes to deal with certain situations within the game.

“When I came in I was very quick to try to speak to him and see how he does certain things and then we work out a way of doing things that is best for both of us.”