Leeds United have been linked with defender Daniel Ayala.
According to the Daily Star, Leeds United target Daniel Ayala wants to join the club this summer in order to work with Marcelo Bielsa.
The Middlesbrough defender will be battling against relegation to League One if or when the season resumes, and he may be a wanted man this summer.
Leeds are believed to be keen on Ayala, which isn’t a shock given how he worked with director of football Victor Orta at Middlesbrough.
Ayala himself is thought to be keen, in a move which could see him return to the Premier League, having had a few cracks at it already.
The Spaniard has played in the top flight with Boro and Norwich City, as well as at Liverpool, where he was tipped for big things as a youngster.
Liverpool signed Ayala from Sevilla in 2007, and whilst he only made five appearances for the Reds, he did enough to impress these Liverpool men at the time…
“Daniel has been really good for the reserves through the whole season and now he has had his opportunity in the first-team. He is good in the air, he is focused all the time and he has the potential to be a great defender.”
“I thought he did very well. It’s very difficult for a young player to come in especially at home on the first home match of the season. The first few games are never easy but he did a great job in defence. He was first to every ball in the air and he can only get better. With time I am sure he will get better and better.” (Speaking after a 4-0 win over Stoke City)
“I don’t think there’s one particular area of his game that has improved, it just seems a natural steady progression. Daniel came over here as a 15 or 16 year old. He’s 19 now and you can see how he has grown in confidence with the experience. He became a big part of the reserve team, then stepped up with the first team in training and now he’s getting a game so he’s climbing up the ladder all the time. Now he’s got the first few games out of the way, he’ll have got those initial nerves out of the way so hopefully his game will improve again.”
Ayala wasn’t quite able to fulfil that promise, but he clearly has real quality – and around 10 years on from those comments, he could end up facing Liverpool in the Premier League as a Leeds player.
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