Forget Jansson: This Leeds summer signing has been their best player this season
By Editor Wayne Veysey
It is to the great credit of Garry Monk, Pep Clotet and, yes, even Massimo Cellino, that Leeds’ recruitment in the summer of 2016 has transformed the team.
Nearly all the signings have settled in and strengthened a side that plodded to a 13th-placed finish last season.
From Rob Green in goal, Pontus Jansson and Kyle Bartley at the back, Eunan O’Kane in midfield, and Hadi Sacko, Pablo Hernandez and, lately, Kemar Roofe, in the attacking positions, the arrivals have nearly all been better than the players they replaced in the 2015-16 side that was memorable only for its mediocrity.
But for all Jansson’s fist-pumping, crowd pleasing commitment, it is Luke Ayling who has been the standout summer signing and, indeed, the club’s best player this season.
His positioning, awareness and ability to support the attacks without exposing his fellow defenders has been an example to any aspiring full-back.
Charlie Taylor, on the other flank, is a mighty fine player with the potential to be a very good one, but it is Ayling who is Mr Dependable week in, week out. He has not stood out just because of his man bun.
Signed too late to start the opening-day defeat at QPR, Ayling has settled superbly into a back four that has been the bedrock of the team’s against-the-odds surge to fourth in the table.
It is to his great credit that he is a class act even in comparison to a Swansea centre-back, a Sweden international and a 23-year-old coveted by the Premier League big guns.
Ayling has been a mainstay of Monk’s side, starting 18 of their 19 Championship matches and doing enough for Gaetano Berardi to wonder when on earth he will get his next run-out.
The performances of the Arsenal academy product beg the question; why on earth did Bristol City let him go? And why was he deemed the second-choice right-back at Leeds’ second-tier rivals?
Landing such an accomplished performer for £750,000 might just be Leeds’ best, and most important business, of a fine summer of recruitment.
In other Leeds news, Pontus Jansson has delivered an update on his future and fans will be extremely concerned.