THE manner in which Luke Ayling's Leeds United career was celebrated and exit was mourned last week said everything about the defender's legendary status at Elland Road.
A six paragraph statement confirming the departure with perhaps a line or two of quotes from the manager or the player there was not.
Instead there was an 895-word statement reminiscing on his seven-and-a-half years at the club, followed by an interview with the chairman, a video tribute to the defender, messages of farewell from teammates and finally an interview with Ayling himself.
That was all before Daniel Farke spoke to the media and outlined why, despite the fact he wanted to keep the 32-year-old, Ayling's request to join Boro was a "special situation".
"I spoke a lot about my public admiration for him and us as a group. You definitely want to keep a player like Luke Ayling. You want to have him as a human being in the group," said Farke.
"He was the oldest player in the group and his contract runs out in the summer. He wanted more minutes and we couldn't guarantee him this and he asked if he could leave. It was not an easy decision. I have spoken about Luke as a player and a human being. If I had played him more in the starting XI in the last few weeks, he would probably have stayed.
"We handled the situation with class and style. Luke will always be a legend of the club."
That Ayling was ready to go straight into the Boro starting XI at Millwall just two days after signing and having played just 35 minutes of league football since early October is testament to his condition and character and showed immediately why he was identified as an ideal signing this month.
Boro needed someone who was ready to go straight into the side. Links with Dexter Lembikisa, who spent the first half of the season on loan at Rotherham from Wolves, were wide of the mark but several right-backs were considered. Ayling ticked the necessary boxes.
With Tommy Smith and Anfernee Dijksteel out injured, right back has been something of a problem position for Boro, but as Marcelo Bielsa once said at Leeds: "We have Ayling who can solve every problem”.
Because of his Leeds association, Ayling was booed throughout at Millwall. He shrugged it off. It was an impressive debut.
"He's been there and done it and understands what it takes to win games like these," said Carrick afterwards.
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The loan recruit has arrived on Teesside with a point to prove and a longer-term contract to earn. Whether that's at Boro remains to be seen, but with his Leeds contract due to expire in the summer, this six-month spell is an audition for what comes next. That can only benefit Carrick's side in the short-term.
Ayling lost his place at Leeds this season and for a defender who turns 33 later this year doubt could have started to set in. But he's a player who has spent his entire career proving people wrong.
"I’d been told from a young age that I was never quick enough or strong enough to be a Premier League player,” he once said.
“That’s part of the reason why Arsenal released me."
He went to Yeovil then Bristol City, then, for just £200,000, signed for Leeds, where he made 236 league starts, 38 of which came in the 2020/21 Premier League season when he was in Bielsa's XI for every single game.
Bielsa had Ayling lighter and better than ever. Late night dashes to the cereal cupboard were no more.
"Back in the day, I'd get munchy about nine o'clock, make a bowl, 'get it down you' and not think about it until the morning," Ayling laughed in an interview at the time.
"The manager wants us light to get around the pitch and be in our best shape. We come in, get weighed and have breakfast. And try to come back the next day and make the weight again. That's what he wants."
It worked. Shortly before Leeds' promotion, Ayling was named in the Guardian's Football League Team of the Decade.
“He’s changed our careers and our lives," said Ayling of Bielsa at the end of 2021.
Earlier that year, after a Gareth Southgate England press conference, Ayling's phone had started pinging non-stop. The right-back was on Southgate's radar at the time and had been mentioned by the national team boss.
“I don’t know how close I was (to a call-up),” he said.
"But to even get mentioned in one of his press conferences was surreal."
From the past to the present. Current Leeds boss Farke loved and reluctantly lost Ayling.
"I pretty rarely talk about something like this but in terms of football character and team-mate character, Luke Ayling is second to none and probably the best player in these terms I've ever worked with," he said earlier this season.
"I'm really careful with such a compliment.
"He is the kid who brings the spirit and the identity into the dressing room. He brings the heart and soul into my side, he makes sure we don't drop the standards in training. He makes sure that everyone is really on it in training - disciplined, focused - working hard each and every day."
Ayling will play a starring role in the Boro dressing room in the coming weeks, but on the evidence of his debut at Millwall he'll be just as pivotal on the pitch.
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