Leeds United’s Luke Ayling and Kyle Bartley are good mates away from the football pitch.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Luke Ayling has joked that the most disappointing aspect of losing Kyle Bartley as a Leeds United team-mate was that he had to get his own house.
The former Arsenal products reunited in West Yorkshire 18 months ago when then-Leeds boss Garry Monk brought them to Elland Road.
The centre-back, however, only joined on loan and returned to parent club Swansea City this past summer after a brilliant season with the Whites.
The duo seemed to be the best of friends at Thorp Arch and Chris Wood – who also left Leeds in the summer – described them as the “terrible two” in an interview with The EFL weekly podcast, and revealed that they were housemates for most of last season.
And Ayling, who joined from Bristol City, has joked to The Yorkshire Post that one of the things he didn’t like about losing his buddy is the fact he had to get a home of his own.
“We did lose a few players [in the summer], including two really big ones in Kyle Bartley and Chris Wood. With Kyle leaving, I had to get my own house – which was a bit disappointing.
“Seriously, though, we signed 14 players and some of them have come in and done so well – Samu, Alioski and others. They have chipped in with goals, they have probably changed the way we are playing and it is going well.”
Bartley would have been hoping for a strong season in the Premier League with City, but a knee ligament injury sustained in August has caused him to miss the entire campaign thus far.
He will have kept an eye on his old Leeds team-mates – especially Ayling – and he can’t be too disappointed, with United just one point adrift of the top six.
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