Some players are worth their mistakes
It's a good job Luke Ayling is still here, put it that way.
One cynical take is that Leeds United announced Luke Ayling's contract extension on Thursday because, managerless and struggling at the bottom of the table with a big game against a relegation rival coming up, angry and nervous fans needed to hear some good news. But it's also a charitable take. By all that's holy, we needed some good news this week, and another year of Bill fit the, well, bill.
If there was a deliberate effort to repair the mood this week then good. The days after Leeds sacked Jesse Marsch were chaotic when Leeds needed calm. Andrea Radrizzani's tweeted insistence that 'white smoke' was due within hours; the naming of targets, the airport sightings of Victor Orta, the polite refusals from those targets; Amsterdam's least favourite Alfred Schreuder being visible at Sunday's game and almost sparking an online riot. Tuesday evening's declaration that Michael Skubala would be handling things at Everton, whatever happened in the meantime, was one welcome bit of driftwood we could cling to while the Leeds board worried themselves about the deckchairs. Luke Ayling staying was another.
Ayling's last twenty minutes at Old Trafford, and again at Elland Road, could make his contract extension look sentimental, pity-pay for a player whose 'legs are gone'. But in the first seventy minutes of both games he was sensational. And his every minute on the pitch was influential. Luke Ayling isn't only important for his technical ability, but because he combines that with personality in a way that means something to the team. Fans notice him — the infamous flops — and opposing players notice him, too. While ordinary Premier League footballers try to hide inconsequential conversations with their hands over their mouths, Ayling is poking Marcus Rashford in the ribs, trying to get him to laugh about conceding a free-kick. At some point growing up, whether from his stammer or some other source, Luke Ayling decided he wouldn't be hiding from life. It's a little mean to compare them, but the story of him regaining his place from summer signing Rasmus Kristensen has been a tale of Rasmus's disappointing meekness in the Premier League, and Ayling showing him how you don't need to project yourself as someone to be feared, shaven headed and snarling, when you can show your opponent, with your man-bun, crazed expression and hysterical laugh, that you're not scared of them.