Andy Hughes tips Luke Ayling to contend for Leeds’ player of the year

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Andy Hughes believes that Luke Ayling is one of the contenders for Leeds United’s player of the season.

Andy Hughes told BBC Radio Leeds’ post-match coverage of Leeds’ win at Preston North End on Tuesday night that Luke Ayling would be a contender for player of the season as he does not believe that the right-back ever has a bad game.

Ayling now appears to be back to his best. He was arguably one of the most impressive performers in pre-season, but did come in for criticism shortly after the turn of the year.

Since giving away a penalty against Swansea City in February however, the 27-year-old has looked much more like the player that he was in his first season at Elland Road when he established himself as one of the best right-backs in the Championship.

And after Ayling put in another excellent performance at Deepdale this week, Hughes insisted that the defender deserves as much praise as any other member of Bielsa’s squad based on his form this term.

“He’d be up there for player of the season. For all round, every week, [he’s] at it, doesn’t really have a bad game,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

“Like the captain, he’d be up there. I’d like to see his assists and his unselfish runs. We’ve got Hernandez, we’ve got Roofe, we’ve got the captain. The way I watch him and what he does, he’d be up there. If you look through his journey, where he’s come from, from the lower leagues, it’s a credit to him, it really is.”

When Ayling is at his best, it appears to make a huge difference to Leeds’ form. His overlapping runs can cause all sorts of problems, and he is more than capable of creating openings for his teammates when he carries the ball forward, often cutting inside to open up a gap down the wing for the likes of Pablo Hernandez and Jack Clarke to exploit.

It would still be a surprise if Ayling won the player of the season award given some of the other contenders. But there is no question that he has done amazingly well to bounce back from the criticism that he was getting just a couple of months ago.