Leeds United defender Luke Ayling has told Soccer AM (10/10/20 at 11:45 am) that he was ‘way off’ it during his time at Arsenal as a youngster.
Whilst Ayling never played a competitive game for Arsenal, he came through their ranks as an eight-year-old before leaving the club in 2010.
From there on, he ended up in the lower leagues with Yeovil before that path led him to Leeds United and back to the promised land.
Ayling admitted that leaving Arsenal was ‘the best thing’ he did because of what came of it and how he just wasn’t good enough for the club at the time.
“I started there when I was eight,” Ayling told Soccer AM.”It was great schooling. The things that I learnt there was brilliant.
“Then doing my scholarship and having Steve Bould as my coach. I played centre-half. But to have Steve Bould coaching you every day it really kicked me on them two years.
“Things weren’t going to happen for me at Arsenal, I knew that. I was way off where I needed to be. Then I went to Yeovil. Spent four years there and it’s the best thing I ever did.”
Well, the 29-year-old now finds himself back in the big time and playing for a Leeds side full of promise, fear and aggression.
Only recently, when Leeds were beaten 4-3 at Liverpool, Ayling was perhaps one of the best players on the pitch.
During one moment of the match, he even nutmegged a certain Sadio Mane and Ayling’s non-stop, exuberant and free-flowing style perhaps sums up the intent in which his team plays in as a whole.
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