Luke Ayling: From League One to England’s Best All-Round Right Back

A semi-detached in Armley, two-thirds of the new Elland Road pitch, or a long-haired right-back-cum-centre-back from Bristol City, are just a selection of things you could be, or have been, purchasing for around £200,000. For Leeds United, in the summer of 2016, it was the latter of those which proved to be the most appealing, and later the most shrewd of acquisitions, when they picked up Luke Ayling.

Since signing at Elland Road, Ayling established himself as one of the finest full-back’s in the Championship, and has since continued his personal trajectory by becoming one of this season’s most impressive Premier League right-back’s too. However, Ayling’s journey to this point has been anything but a formality at times, so we wanted to look at his rise to this point and analyse just how well he has adapted to the top-flight this year.

Starting out at Arsenal’s academy, Ayling was unable to break into the first team frame there, and so the search for senior football led him to Yeovil Town in League One, initially on loan, and later on a permanent deal. His time at Huish Park was successful for the most-part, helping the side up to the second-tier of English football in 2013, for the first time in their history. While Yeovil’s stay in the Championship was brief, Ayling made enough of an individual impression to secure a move to Bristol City, albeit a step down to League One again. As he did at Yeovil, Ayling helped Bristol City achieve prmotion up to the Championship and this time he was able to help his team to survival and establish himself as a Championship player for conscutive seasons for the first time. A step in the right direction you would assume.

Despite this, Ayling was soon sold and not deemed a good or important enough member of Bristol City’s squad, with the fee received for his transfer to Leeds being put towards the cost of loaning Tammy Abraham from Chelsea. Leeds in 2016 were by no means the outfit they are today either so, despite the potential and history of the club, this was not the step up that it may be considered now. At that point, Massimo Cellino had been trying his best to turn the club into a travelling circus, while the team itself had achieved another (almost annual at this point) bottom-half finish.